Winter storms worsen Gaza

Winter storms worsen Gaza humanitarian crisis as UN says aid still blocked

The roof of a war-damaged family home collapses during winter storm in Gaza City’s Shati refugee camp. 

By Caolán Magee

Published On 17 Dec 202517 Dec 2025

Winter storms are worsening conditions for hundreds of thousands of displaced Palestinians in Gaza, as aid agencies warn that Israeli restrictions are preventing lifesaving shelter assistance from reaching people across the besieged enclave.

The United Nations has said it has tents, blankets and other essential supplies ready to enter Gaza, but that Israeli authorities continue to block or restrict access through border crossings.

In Gaza City’s Shati refugee camp, the roof of a war-damaged family home collapsed during the storm, rescue workers said on Wednesday. Six Palestinians, including two children, were pulled alive from the rubble.

It comes after Gaza’s Ministry of Health said a two-week-old Palestinian infant froze to death, highlighting the risks faced by young and elderly people living in inadequate shelters.

A spokesperson for UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said the storms had damaged or destroyed shelters and personal belongings across the territory.

“The disruption has affected approximately 30,000 children across Gaza. Urgent repairs are needed to ensure these activities can resume without delay,” Farhan Haq said.

The Palestinian Civil Defence in Gaza added in a statement that “what we are experiencing now in the Gaza Strip is a true humanitarian catastrophe”.

Ceasefire talks and aid access

The worsening humanitarian situation comes as Qatar’s Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al Thani held talks in Washington, DC, with United States Secretary of State Marco Rubio on efforts to stabilise the tenuous ceasefire in Gaza.

According to Qatari officials, the talks focused on Qatar’s role as a mediator, the urgent need for aid to enter Gaza, and moving negotiations towards the second stage of a US-backed plan to end Israel’s genocidal war against the Palestinian people in Gaza.

Al Jazeera’s Alan Fisher, reporting from Washington, said Sheikh Mohammed stressed that humanitarian assistance must be allowed into Gaza “unconditionally”.

“He said aid has to be taken into Gaza unconditionally, clearly making reference to the fact that a number of aid agencies have said that Israel is blocking the access to aid for millions of people in Gaza,” Fisher said.

The Qatari prime minister also discussed the possibility of an international stabilisation force to be deployed in Gaza after the war, saying such a force should act impartially.

“There has been a lot of talk in the US over the past couple of weeks about how this force would work towards the disarmament of Hamas,” Fisher said.

Sheikh Mohammed also called for swift progress towards the second phase of the ceasefire agreement.

“He said that stage two of the ceasefire deal has to be moved to pretty quickly,” Fisher said, adding that US officials were hoping to announce early in the new year which countries would contribute troops to a stabilisation force.

Israeli attacks continue

Meanwhile, violence continued in Gaza despite the ceasefire, with at least 11 Palestinians wounded in Israeli attacks in central Gaza City, according to medical sources.

The Israeli army said it is investigating after a mortar shell fired near Gaza’s so-called yellow line “missed its target”.

Al Jazeera journalists in Gaza reported Israeli artillery shelling east of the southern city of Khan Younis. Medical sources said Israeli gunfire also wounded two people in the Tuffah neighbourhood of eastern Gaza City.

In the occupied West Bank, where Israeli military and settler attacks have escalated in recent days, Palestinian news agency Wafa reported that Israeli troops shot and wounded a man in his 20s in the foot in Qalqilya. He was taken to hospital and is reported to be in stable condition.

Since October 2023, at least 70,668 Palestinians have been killed and 171,152 wounded in Israeli attacks on Gaza, according to Palestinian health authorities. In Israel, 1,139 people were killed during the Hamas-led October 7 attack, and more than 200 others were taken captive.

காலநிலை அறிவிப்பு 17-12-2025 கலாநிதி நா.பிரதீபராஜா

 17.12.2025 புதன்கிழமை பிற்பகல் 3.00 மணி

வங்காள விரிகுடாவில் இலங்கைக்கு தென்கிழக்காக உருவாகிய காற்றுச் சுழற்சி மேற்கு வட மேற்கு திசை நோக்கி நகர்ந்து தற்போது இலங்கைக்கு தெற்காக நிலை கொண்டுள்ளது.

அதேபோல இலங்கையின் தென்பகுதியில் ஒரு வளிமண்டல உறுதியற்ற நிலைமையும் காணப்படுகின்றது.

• இதன் காரணமாக தற்பொழுது நாட்டின் பல பகுதிகளுக்கும் கிடைத்து வரும் மழை எதிர்வரும் 19ஆம் தேதி வரை நீடிக்கும் என எதிர்பார்க்கப்படுகின்றது.

• நாளை இரவு முதல் (18.12.2025) வடக்கு மாகாணத்திற்கு மழை படிப்படியாக குறைவடையும் என எதிர்பார்க்கப்படுகின்றது.

ஆனால் கிழக்கு ஊவா, மத்திய, சப்ரகமுவ, தெற்கு மற்றும் மேற்கு மாகாணங்களுக்கு எதிர்வரும் 19 ஆம் திகதி வரை மழை நீடிக்கும் வாய்ப்பு காணப்படுகின்றது.

1. காற்றுச்சுழற்சி இலங்கைக்கு தெற்காக நிலை கொண்டிருப்பதனாலும்;

2. தென்பகுதியில் நிலவும் வளிமண்டல உறுதியற்ற தன்மையினாலும்;

மத்திய, ஊவா மற்றும் சப்ரகமுவ மாகாணங்கள் இன்று முதல்(17.12.2025) எதிர்வரும் 19.12.2025 ஆம் திகதி வரை சற்று கனமழையைப் பெறும் என எதிர்பார்க்கப்படுகின்றது.

எனவே பதுளை, நுவரெலியா, கண்டி, மாத்தளை, கேகாலை மாவட்டங்களில் கனமழையோடு இணைந்த நிலச்சரிவு தொடர்பில் மக்கள் அவதானமாக இருப்பது அவசியமானதாகும்.

அதேவேளை

1. கிழக்கு மாகாணத்தில் பல பகுதிகளுக்கும் மழை தொடர்ந்து கிடைத்து வருவதாலும்;

2. கிழக்கு மாகாணத்திற்கு எதிர்வரும் 19ம் திகதி வரை மழை கிடைக்கும் என்பதனாலும்;

3. கிழக்கு மாகாணத்தில் குளங்களுக்கு நீரை கொண்டு வருகின்ற நீரேந்துப் பிரதேசங்களுக்கும் மழை தொடரும் என்பதனாலும்;

• கிழக்கு மாகாண குளங்களுக்கு அதிகளவான நீர்வரத்து இருக்கும் என எதிர்பார்க்கப்படுகின்றது.

வடக்கு மாகாணத்தில் கடந்த சில நாட்களாக கிடைத்து வருகின்ற மிதமான மற்றும் கனமான மழை காரணமாக வடக்கு மாகாணத்தில் பல குளங்கள் வான் பாய்கின்ற நிலைமை காணப்படுகின்றது. எனினும் நாளை(18.12.2025) இரவு முதல் வடக்கு மாகாணத்திற்கு மழை குறைவடையும் வாய்ப்புள்ளது.

அதேவேளை கடந்த சில நாட்களாக நிலவிய குளிர் மீண்டும் நாளை மறு தினம் முதல்(19.12.2025) அதிகரிக்கும் என்பதோடு இந்த குளிரான வானிலை 26 ஆம் தேதி வரைக்கும் தொடரும் என எதிர்பார்க்கப்படுகின்றது.

- நாகமுத்து பிரதீபராஜா -

2025.12.17 වන බදාදා ප.ව. 3.00

ශ්‍රී ලංකාවට ගිනිකොන දෙසින් බෙංගාල බොක්කෙහි ඇති වූ වායු සංසරණය බටහිර-වයඹ දිශාවට ගමන් කර දැනට ශ්‍රී ලංකාවට දකුණින් පිහිටා ඇත.

ඒ හා සමානව, ශ්‍රී ලංකාවේ දකුණු කොටසේ වායුගෝලීය අස්ථාවරත්වයක් ද දක්නට ලැබේ.

• මේ හේතුවෙන්, දිවයිනේ බොහෝ ප්‍රදේශවලට දැනට ලැබෙන වර්ෂාව 19 වන දින දක්වා පවතිනු ඇතැයි අපේක්ෂා කෙරේ.
• හෙට (2025.12.18) රාත්‍රියේ සිට උතුරු පළාතේ වර්ෂාව ක්‍රමයෙන් අඩුවනු ඇතැයි අපේක්ෂා කෙරේ.

කෙසේ වෙතත්, නැගෙනහිර ඌව, මධ්‍යම, සබරගමුව, දකුණු සහ බටහිර පළාත්වල 19 වන දින දක්වා වැසි ඇතිවීමේ හැකියාවක් පවතී.

1. ශ්‍රී ලංකාවේ පවතින දකුණු දෙසින් හමන සුළං හේතුවෙන්...

2. දකුණු කොටසේ පවතින වායුගෝලීය අස්ථාවරත්වය හේතුවෙන්...

මධ්‍යම, ඌව සහ සබරගමුව පළාත්වලට අද (2025.12.17) සිට 2025.12.19 දක්වා තද වැසි ඇති වේ යැයි අපේක්ෂා කෙරේ.

එබැවින්, බදුල්ල, නුවරඑළිය, මහනුවර, මාතලේ සහ කෑගල්ල දිස්ත්‍රික්කවල අධික වර්ෂාපතනය සමඟ නායයෑම් ඇතිවීමේ හැකියාව පිළිබඳව මහජනතාව විමසිල්ලෙන් සිටිය යුතුය.

මේ අතර,

1. නැගෙනහිර පළාතේ බොහෝ ප්‍රදේශවල අඛණ්ඩව වැසි ඇද හැලීම හේතුවෙන්;

2. නැගෙනහිර පළාතට 19 වන දින දක්වා වර්ෂාපතනය ලැබෙන බැවින්...

3. නැගෙනහිර පළාතේ පොකුණුවලට ජලය ගෙන එන ජල පෝෂක ප්‍රදේශවලට ද අඛණ්ඩව වැසි ලැබෙන බැවින්;

• නැගෙනහිර පළාතේ පොකුණුවලට වැඩි ජල ප්‍රවාහයක් ලැබෙනු ඇතැයි අපේක්ෂා කෙරේ.
• පසුගිය දින කිහිපය තුළ උතුරු පළාතට ඇද හැලෙන මධ්‍යස්ථ හා තද වැසි හේතුවෙන් උතුරු පළාතේ බොහෝ ජලාශ ගංවතුරට ගොදුරු වෙමින් පවතී. කෙසේ වෙතත්, හෙට (2025.12.18) රාත්‍රියේ සිට උතුරු පළාතේ වැසි අඩුවීමේ හැකියාවක් පවතී.

මේ අතර, පසුගිය දින කිහිපය තුළ පැවති සීතල කාලගුණය හෙට (2025.12.19) සිට නැවතත් වැඩි වන අතර මෙම සීතල කාලගුණය 26 වන දින දක්වා පවතිනු ඇතැයි අපේක්ෂා කෙරේ.

- නාගමුතු ප්‍රදීපරාජා -

Wednesday, the 17th of December, 2025, at 3:00 PM

A cyclonic circulation originating in the Bay of Bengal, southeast of Sri Lanka, has drifted west-northwestward and is presently situated south of the island.

Concurrently, atmospheric instability is evident in the southern regions of Sri Lanka.

As a consequence, the rainfall presently affecting numerous parts of the country is anticipated to persist until the 19th.

A gradual diminution of rainfall is expected in the Northern Province commencing from tomorrow night (18th December, 2025).

Nevertheless, there remains a likelihood of rainfall in the Eastern Uva, Central, Sabaragamuwa, Southern, and Western provinces until the 19th.

1. Owing to the prevailing southerly winds across Sri Lanka;

2. Due to the existing atmospheric instability in the southern regions;

The Central, Uva, and Sabaragamuwa provinces are forecasted to receive intermittent heavy rainfall from today (17th December, 2025) through the 19th.

Hence, the public must remain vigilant regarding the potential risk of landslides associated with intense precipitation in the districts of Badulla, Nuwara Eliya, Kandy, Matale, and Kegalle.

Meanwhile,

1. Owing to ongoing rainfall across many areas within the Eastern Province...

2. Given that the Eastern Province will continue to receive rainfall until the 19th...

3. Considering that the catchment areas feeding water into the ponds of the Eastern Province will also be subjected to ongoing precipitation...

It is projected that water inflows to the ponds in the Eastern Province will increase.

Due to moderate to heavy rains experienced over the past several days in the Northern Province, numerous ponds are currently flooded. However, a reduction in rainfall is anticipated in the Northern Province starting from tomorrow night (18th December, 2025).

Furthermore, the cold spell that has persisted over the past few days is expected to intensify once again from tomorrow (19th December, 2025), and this cold weather is forecast to continue until the 26th.

— Nagamuthu Piratheeparajah-

காலநிலை அறிவிப்பு 15-12-2025 கலாநிதி நா.பிரதீபராஜா

15.12.2015 திங்கட்கிழமை இரவு 11.00 மணி 

* வங்காள விரிகுடாவில் இலங்கைக்கு தென்கிழக்காக புதிய காற்றுச் சுழற்சி ஒன்று உருவாகியுள்ளது. இது தற்போது உகந்தையில் இருந்து 408 கி.மீ. தென்கிழக்காக அமைவு பெற்றுள்ளது. 

* அதேவேளை இலங்கையின் தென் பகுதியை மையம் கொண்டு கீழ் வளிமண்டல தளம்பல் நிலை ஒன்றும் உருவாகியுள்ளது. 

• இதன் காரணமாக இன்று நள்ளிரவு அல்லது நாளை அதிகாலை முதல்(16.12.2025), வடக்கு, கிழக்கு, மத்திய, ஊவா, தெற்கு, வடமத்திய மாகாணங்களுக்கு மிதமானது முதல் கனமானது வரை மழை கிடைக்கும் வாய்ப்புள்ளது. ஒரு சில இடங்களில் மிகக் கனமழையையும் கிடைக்கும் வாய்ப்புள்ளது.  

• இம்மழை எதிர்வரும் 19.12.2025 வரை தொடரும் வாய்ப்புள்ளது

• இந்த மழை நாளை மறுதினம் (17.12.2025) நாட்டின் பெரும்பாலான பகுதிகளுக்கு கிடைக்கும் வாய்ப்புள்ளது. குறிப்பாக வடக்கு, கிழக்கு, ஊவா, மத்திய, வடமத்திய, சப்ரகமுவ மற்றும் மேற்கு மாகாணங்களின் பல பகுதிகளுக்கும் எதிர்வரும் 17.12.2025 அன்று கன மழை கிடைக்கும் வாய்ப்புள்ளது. 

• அதேவேளை நாளை முதல் (16.12.2025) வடக்கு, கிழக்கு, ஊவா, மற்றும் தென் மாகாணங்களின் கரையோரப் பகுதிகளுக்கு சற்று பலமான காற்று வீசும் வாய்ப்புள்ளது. குறிப்பாக மணிக்கு 30- 40 கி.மீ. வேகத்தில் காற்று வீசும் என எதிர்பார்க்கப்படுகிறது. 

1. இந்தக் காற்றுச் சுழற்சி இலங்கைக்கு தென்கிழக்காக நிலவுவதாலும்;

2. இக்காற்றுச்சுழற்சி மேற்கு, வடமேற்கு திசை நோக்கி நகரும் என்பதனாலும்;

3. இலங்கையின் தென் பகுதியை மையம் கொண்டு கீழ் வளிமண்டல தளம்பல் நிலை நிலவுவதாலும்;

 மத்திய, ஊவா மற்றும் சப்ரகமுவ   மாகாணங்கள் சற்றுக் கனமழை பெறும் என எதிர்பார்க்கப்படுகிறது.

இதன் காரணமாக கண்டி, மாத்தளை, நுவரெலியா, பதுளை, கேகாலை, குருநாகல் மாவட்டஙகளின் சில பகுதிகளில் நிலச்சரிவு அனர்த்தங்கள் நிகழ்வதற்கான வாய்ப்புக்கள் உண்டு. 

ஆகவே மேற்கூறிய மாவட்டங்களில் உள்ள மக்கள் நாளை முதல் (16.12.2025) எதிர்வரும் 19.12.2025 வரை கன மழை மற்றும் அதனோடு இணைந்த நிலச்சரிவு தொடர்பில் அவதானமாகவும் எச்சரிக்கை உணர்வோடும் இருப்பது அவசியம். 

வடக்கு, கிழக்கு, மற்றும் வட மத்திய மாகாணங்கள் உட்பட்ட நாட்டின் பல பகுதிகளிலும் உள்ள பல குளங்கள் வான் பாய்ந்து கொண்டிருக்கின்றன. வான் பாயும் நிலையிலும் உள்ளன. இதனால் அடுத்து வரும் நாட்களில் கிடைக்கும் மழை இந்தக் குளங்களின் வான் பாயும் நீரின் அளவை அதிகரிக்க கூடும். 

அதேவேளை நாட்டின் பல இடங்களிலும் குறிப்பாக வடக்கு மற்றும் கிழக்கு மாகாணங்களில் நிலம் நிரம்பு நிலையை எட்டியுள்ளதனால் மேலதிகமாக கிடைக்கும் 75 மி.மீ. மழை கூட சில தாழ் நிலப் பகுதிகளில் வெள்ள அனர்த்தத்தை உருவாக்கும் வாய்ப்புள்ளது. எனவே இது தொடர்பாக அவதானமாக இருப்பது அவசியம். 

அதேவேளை இலங்கையின் கிழக்கு, தென்கிழக்கு, தெற்கு, தென்மேற்கு ஆழ்கடற் பகுதிகளுக்கு பலநாட் கலங்களில் மீன்பிடி நடவடிக்கைகளுக்காக சென்றுள்ளவர்கள் வேகமான காற்று மற்றும் அதிக உயரம் கொண்ட கடலலைகள் தொடர்பில் அவதானமாக இருப்பது சிறந்தது. 

நாகமுத்து பிரதீபராஜா - 

2015.12.15 සඳුදා රාත්‍රී 11.00

ශ්‍රී ලංකාවේ ගිනිකොන දෙසින් බෙංගාල බොක්කෙහි නව වායු සංසරණයක් නිර්මාණය වී ඇත. එය දැනට සමකයට ගිනිකොන දෙසින් කිලෝමීටර 408 ක් දුරින් පිහිටා ඇත.

මේ අතර, ශ්‍රී ලංකාවේ දකුණු කොටස කේන්ද්‍ර කර ගනිමින් පහළ මට්ටමේ වායුගෝලීය කැළඹීමක් ඇති වී තිබේ.

මේ හේතුවෙන්, අද මධ්‍යම රාත්‍රියේ සිට හෝ හෙට (2025.12.16) අලුයම දක්වා උතුරු, නැගෙනහිර, මධ්‍යම, ඌව, දකුණු සහ උතුරු මැද පළාත්වල මධ්‍යස්ථ සිට තද වැසි ඇති වීමට ඉඩ ඇත. ස්ථාන කිහිපයක ඉතා තද වැසි ඇති වීමට ද ඉඩ ඇත.

මෙම වර්ෂාව 2025.12.19 වන දින දක්වා පවතිනු ඇත.

මෙම වර්ෂාව හෙට අනිද්දා (2025.12.17) දිවයිනේ බොහෝ ප්‍රදේශවලට ඇති වීමට ඉඩ ඇත. විශේෂයෙන්, උතුරු, නැගෙනහිර, ඌව, මධ්‍යම, උතුරු-මැද, සබරගමුව සහ බටහිර පළාත්වල බොහෝ ප්‍රදේශවලට ඉදිරි 2025.12.17 වන දින තද වැසි ලැබීමට ඉඩ ඇත.

මේ අතර, හෙට (2025.12.16) සිට උතුරු, නැගෙනහිර, ඌව සහ දකුණු පළාත්වල වෙරළබඩ ප්‍රදේශ හරහා තරමක් තද සුළං හමා ඒමේ හැකියාව පවතී. විශේෂයෙන්, සුළං වේගය පැයට කිලෝමීටර 30-40 ක් වනු ඇතැයි අපේක්ෂා කෙරේ.

1. මෙම සුළං සංසරණය ශ්‍රී ලංකාවට ගිනිකොන දෙසින් පවතී;

2. මෙම සුළං සංසරණය බටහිර සහ වයඹ දෙසට ගමන් කරනු ඇත;

3. ශ්‍රී ලංකාවේ දකුණු කොටස කේන්ද්‍ර කර ගත් අඩු වායුගෝලීය කැළඹිලි ස්වභාවය හේතුවෙන්;

මධ්‍යම, ඌව සහ සබරගමුව පළාත්වලට තරමක් තද වැසි ලැබෙනු ඇතැයි අපේක්ෂා කෙරේ.

මේ හේතුවෙන්, මහනුවර, මාතලේ, නුවරඑළිය, බදුල්ල, කෑගල්ල සහ කුරුණෑගල දිස්ත්‍රික්කවල සමහර ප්‍රදේශවල නායයෑම් ඇතිවීමේ අවදානමක් පවතී.

එබැවින්, ඉහත දිස්ත්‍රික්කවල ජනතාව හෙට (16.12.2025) සිට ඉදිරි 19.12.2025 දක්වා අධික වර්ෂාව සහ ඒ ආශ්‍රිත නායයෑම් සම්බන්ධයෙන් විමසිලිමත් විය යුතු අතර අවදියෙන් සිටිය යුතුය.

උතුරු, නැගෙනහිර සහ උතුරු මැද පළාත් ඇතුළුව දිවයිනේ බොහෝ ප්‍රදේශවල බොහෝ පොකුණු පිරී ඉතිරී ගොස් ඇත. ඒවා ද පිරී ඉතිරී යන තත්ත්වයක පවතී. එබැවින්, ඉදිරි දිනවලදී ලැබෙන වර්ෂාව මෙම පොකුණුවල ගලා යන ජල ප්‍රමාණය වැඩි කළ හැකිය.

ඒ සමඟම, රටේ බොහෝ ස්ථානවල, විශේෂයෙන් උතුරු සහ නැගෙනහිර පළාත්වල භූමිය සංතෘප්ත ස්ථානයට ළඟා වී ඇති බැවින්, අමතර මිලිමීටර් 75 ක වර්ෂාපතනයක් පවා සමහර පහත් බිම් ප්‍රදේශවල ගංවතුරට හේතු විය හැක. එබැවින්, මේ සම්බන්ධයෙන් විමසිලිමත් වීම අවශ්‍ය වේ.

මේ අතර, දින කිහිපයක් තිස්සේ ශ්‍රී ලංකාවේ නැගෙනහිර, ගිනිකොන, දකුණු සහ නිරිතදිග ගැඹුරු මුහුදු ප්‍රදේශවලට ධීවර කටයුතු සඳහා ගිය අය තද සුළං සහ අධික රළ පිළිබඳව දැනුවත් විය යුතුය.

- නාගමුතු ප්‍රදීපරාජා -

15.12.2015 Monday night 11.00 PM

A new air circulation has formed in the Bay of Bengal to the southeast of Sri Lanka. It is currently located 408 km southeast of the Ukanthai.

Meanwhile, a low-level atmospheric disturbance has formed centered over the southern part of Sri Lanka.

Due to this, moderate to heavy rain is likely to occur in the Northern, Eastern, Central, Uva, Southern and North Central provinces from midnight today or early morning tomorrow (16.12.2025). Very heavy rain is also likely to occur at a few places.

This rain is likely to continue until 19.12.2025.

This rain is likely to occur in most parts of the country the day after tomorrow (17.12.2025). In particular, many parts of the Northern, Eastern, Uva, Central, North-Central, Sabaragamuwa and Western provinces are likely to receive heavy rain on the upcoming 17.12.2025.

Meanwhile, from tomorrow (16.12.2025), there is a possibility of slightly strong winds blowing over the coastal areas of the Northern, Eastern, Uva and Southern provinces. In particular, the wind speed is expected to be 30–40 km/h.

1. This wind circulation is prevailing southeast of Sri Lanka;

2. This wind circulation will move towards the west and northwest;

3. Due to the low atmospheric disturbance centered over the southern part of Sri Lanka;

Central, Uva and Sabaragamuwa provinces are expected to receive slightly heavy rain.

Due to this, there are chances of landslides in some parts of Kandy, Matale, Nuwara Eliya, Badulla, Kegalle and Kurunegala districts.

Therefore, it is necessary for the people in the above districts to be vigilant and alert regarding heavy rains and associated landslides from tomorrow (16.12.2025) until the upcoming 19.12.2025.

Many ponds in many parts of the country, including the Northern, Eastern and North Central provinces are overflowing. They are also in a state of overflowing. Therefore, the rains received in the coming days may increase the amount of water flowing in these ponds.

At the same time, since the land has reached the saturation point in many places of the country, especially in the Northern and Eastern provinces, even an additional 75 mm. of rain is likely to cause flooding in some low-lying areas. Therefore, it is necessary to be vigilant in this regard.

Meanwhile, those who have gone to the eastern, southeastern, southern and southwestern deep sea areas of Sri Lanka for fishing activities for several days should be aware of strong winds and high waves.

Nagamuthu Piratheeparajah 

 

What Trump’s National Security Strategy Gets Right

Despite the Bombastic Rhetoric, America Isn’t Retreating

Rebeccah Heinrichs

December 15, 2025

U.S. President Donald Trump at a roundtable in Washington, D.C., December 2025Jonathan Ernst / Reuters

REBECCAH HEINRICHS is a Senior Fellow and Director of the Keystone Defense Initiative at the Hudson Institute. She served as a commissioner on the most recent bipartisan Strategic Posture Commission.

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The Trump administration’s 2025 National Security Strategy is, in many ways, unlike any in U.S. history. Most strategy documents of this kind articulate the threats that the United States’ adversaries pose to Washington and its allies, and they explain how officials can respond to these challenges. But this one seems kinder to the United States’ foes than to its friends. It rebukes Europe in an astonishingly blunt fashion, arguing that some of the continent’s domestic policies are damaging democracy and risking “civilizational erasure.” It says remarkably little, by contrast, about the threats posed by China, Russia, Iran, or North Korea. As a result, the response to the NSS among Washington’s traditional foreign policy elite has been overwhelmingly angry—and panicked.

But anxious analysts should take a breath. Dig a little deeper, and the new document, almost certainly written by many hands, is more complex than it appears at first glance. In fact, it reflects more continuity with the last several strategies than its most attention-grabbing passages suggest. The strategy does not call for the United States to abandon Europe or its other traditional allies. It does not open the door to Chinese expansionism. And it does not indicate that Washington is preparing to withdraw from much of the world. Quite the contrary: it suggests that the United States still has globe-spanning shared interests with its historical allies, and that the country is planning to expand its geographical interests.

U.S. allies, in particular, should focus on the dimensions of the strategy that pertain to vital American interests. The document, for example, makes clear that Washington can and should increase military collaboration with its partners. The strategy also suggests that officials can boost and adapt Washington’s extended nuclear deterrent. And it provides reasons for strengthening allied conventional defenses and maintaining the United States’ forward military deployments. Washington’s friends and partners should use the new strategy as a reason to keep doing much of what they already are doing or plan to do—but with a renewed sense of urgency.

HALF BAD

The new strategy may not be the catastrophe that its critics suggest. But there’s no whitewashing its flaws. For starters, it pointedly neglects to name and describe the primary threat that the United States and its allies face: the authoritarian bloc of China, Russia, Iran, and North Korea. Trump’s 2017 national security strategy made it clear that “China and Russia challenge American power, influence, and interests” and described “the dictatorships of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea and the Islamic Republic of Iran” as “determined to destabilize regions, threaten Americans and our allies, and brutalize their own people.” But even though this bloc of states has expanded its military capabilities and heightened its collaboration in the intervening years, the 2025 strategy does not describe them or the risk that they pose to American security. One of the countries, North Korea, isn’t even mentioned.

Instead, the document trains most of its ire on Europe. The continent’s governments, it declares, are eroding free speech, strangling economic growth, and letting in unvetted foreigners who do not assimilate. These claims are largely accurate, but putting them in the report only offers ammunition to Washington and Europe’s common adversaries—and makes it harder for Europe to address the problems. Many politicians in Europe strongly agree with Trump’s criticisms and have been fighting hard to get their countries to change course. But as one European diplomat told me, the strategy’s harsh condemnations could harm such politicians’ electoral fortunes. Instead of publicly rebuking Europe, the Trump administration would have been better off raising these concerns in private, as one does when dealing with struggling friends.

The strategy is also incoherent when it discusses Trump’s preferred political movements inside Europe. It seems set on bolstering what the document calls “those European forces that openly embrace their national character and history”—a not-so-veiled reference to far-right parties such as the Netherlands’ Party for Freedom, Reform UK, and the Alternative for Germany (AfD). But these parties advocate for polices at odds with other Trump goals, such as European rearmament, even if they agree with some Republicans on cultural matters. If the AfD had its way, Germany would close its borders to migrants, but it would remain defenseless against rising revanchist powers. Worst of all, the AfD supports the appeasement of Russia. Many members of the AfD even align with Russia, advocating for resumption of trade, opposing efforts to end Germany’s dependence on Russian oil, and are hostile to NATO.

Unfortunately, Trump seeks a “reset” with Russia that echoes the failed one attempted by the progressive President Barack Obama in 2009. He has focused on creating incentives for Russia to end its war against Ukraine rather than on increasing pressure and bolstering deterrence. The document calls for stabilizing ties with Russia and declares that Washington “finds itself at odds with European officials who hold unrealistic expectations for the war” in Ukraine. It then says that “a large European majority wants peace, yet that desire is not translated into policy, in large measure because of those governments’ subversion of democratic processes.” But this argument is incorrect. When Obama and German Chancellor Angela Merkel and were in office, Europe was far more divided on how to treat Moscow than it is now, and it was far less supportive of investing in hard power to deter Russian aggression. Today, Europeans are broadly supportive of rearming and taking on a bigger share of NATO’s defense. They view Russia as a clear and acute threat and agree that they must stop Russian aggression through military strength and by ending their dependence on Russian energy.

If U.S. officials are really interested in the views of unrepresented citizens, they should instead look at their own. According to the December 2025 Reagan National Defense Survey, a majority of Americans from both political parties support Ukraine over Russia. The number who support sending U.S. weapons to Ukraine has climbed from 55 percent to 64 percent since last year. Support for NATO has also surged to 68 percent from 62 percent.

STICKING AROUND

But criticism of Europe and skepticism toward Ukraine are only two parts of the new strategy. Elsewhere, the document is much more in keeping with earlier articulations of American foreign policy. Despite loud calls from the American far right to abandon commitments abroad, for example, the new document rightly asserts that U.S. interests span the planet. According to the document, Washington’s “core” interests are in the Western Hemisphere, the Indo-Pacific, Europe, the Middle East, and “all crucial sea lanes.” The so-called pivot to Asia pushed by Obama and the current Undersecretary of Defense Elbridge Colby remains elusive. In fact, the United States is not only maintaining Asia, Europe, and the Middle East as regions of core interest but also adding the Americas, which U.S. officials spent decades neglecting. This is not the strategy of a retrenching United States.

The strategy makes it especially clear that the United States won’t cede ground to China—a fact that should come as a relief to many observers. In the run-up to the document’s publication, NBC News reported that White House aides were worried that Chinese leader Xi Jinping might persuade Trump to formally declare that Washington “opposes” Taiwanese independence. But the document maintains Washington’s long-standing policy of keeping its commitment to the island ambiguous, stating that the United States “does not support unilateral change to the status quo in the Taiwan Strait.” Before the document came out, analysts also worried that Washington would pull back from the Quad, the U.S. led-security framework featuring Australia, India, and Japan. Yet the new strategy reaffirms Washington’s commitment to the group and to a free and open Indo-Pacific in general. Meanwhile, just days after the document was released, U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth met with security officials in Australia and the United Kingdom to bolster the three countries’ commitment to their AUKUS pact. In doing so, he dealt a setback to so-called restrainers in the United States who want to abandon AUKUS, through which Washington plans to supply nuclear submarines to Australia.

And despite the critiques of some current European governments, the new strategy makes it emphatically clear that the United States wants Europe to be strong. The document lauds the commitments from NATO allies to boost defense spending, and it declares that “Europe remains strategically and culturally vital to the United States.” It says that “transatlantic trade remains one of the pillars of the global economy and of American prosperity” and that “European sectors from manufacturing to technology to energy remain among the world’s most robust.” It notes that Europe “is home to cutting-edge scientific research and world-leading cultural institutions.” And it says that Washington cannot “afford to write Europe off,” because doing so “would be self-defeating for what this strategy aims to achieve.”

Allies should not simply hope for a more conciliatory American president.

For all its flaws, then, the new strategy does not set back U.S. efforts to deter authoritarian powers. It suggests that policymakers in the United States and allied countries should keep advancing their partnerships. They can seize on the strategy’s declarations, for instance, to promote traditional rearmament, pointing to the document’s praise for European defense commitments and its promise that the United States “stands ready” to convene and support those efforts.

The strategy also provides space for nuclear rearmament by calling for Washington to restore strategic nuclear stability with Moscow. American officials appear to be doing just that. Shortly after the release of the strategy, Hegseth said in a speech at the Ronald Reagan Defense Forum that nuclear deterrence is the “foundation of our national defense” and reiterated the department’s commitment to modernizing its nuclear arsenal. Hegseth also acknowledged that the United States faces “two other major nuclear armed powers.” This statement is important and necessary because it demonstrates that Washington will continue its role in maintaining the global nuclear peace even as Beijing and Moscow invest heavily in nuclear weapons to undergird their imperialistic aims.

Congress, meanwhile, is pushing to maintain Washington’s forward troop deployments. Its just-released National Defense Authorization Act features provisions limiting troop reductions in Europe and South Korea. (The inclusion of the latter country is important and helps make up for the fact that North Korea receives no mention in the strategy document.) The House and Senate leadership understand how foolish it would be to withdraw American forces from allied countries while Russia refuses to agree to a cease-fire with Ukraine and is conducting hybrid operations in Europe, and as other authoritarian states meddle in their U.S.-aligned neighbors. Congress should ensure that Americans understand the nature and the scope of this authoritarian menace, too. Representatives should, for instance, explain to their constituents that China, Russia, Iran, and North Korea are a bloc, and that this bloc is confrontational and capable of inflicting substantial damage on the United States, American interests, and Washington’s partners.

Allies should not simply hope for a more conciliatory American president and hold off on making difficult but overdue decisions. They should get busy making themselves stronger—and therefore more valuable to the United States in the fight to stave off authoritarianism. As Trump’s new strategy makes clear, the U.S. government expects its allies to take on more of the military burden in defense of our shared interests. But despite its blunt criticisms of American partners, the new strategy does not write them off. And, ultimately, it reaffirms Washington’s many global commitments and the need for the United States to play a leading role in the world.