This chapter presents a comprehensive literature review of the contemporary contexts and challenges in humanitarian supply chains, derived from a large-scale review of 985 peer-reviewed academic publications from 2015–2024. Utilizing bibliometric analysis with VOSviewer to map keyword clusters and an in-depth review of 119 selected articles, the research identifies the defining characteristics of the current operational landscape, including increasing disaster frequency, globalization, technological advancements, and profound unpredictability. The analysis categorizes the critical challenges into six core areas: operational, coordination, resource, ethical, technological, and security challenges. In response to these challenges, the chapter explores essential resilience capabilities required for humanitarian organizations, such as flexibility, robust supply chain management, innovation, and local capacity building. This synthesis provides a crucial foundation for understanding the pressures shaping humanitarian operations and the resilient capabilities needed to overcome them.