“The Secretary General once again said that the war in the Middle East must stop” Said Antonio Guterres said in a statement issued by the office of the UN spokesperson in New York.
he added all that security council Resolutions regarding the end of Middle East conflicts should be implemented, including Resolution 2817, which called for an end to Iran’s attacks on neighboring states.
Return to COVID-era disruption
“In addition to the immediate impact in Lebanon, the conflict has also had a major impact on global humanitarian operations; we are really feeling the pain.” wfp Deputy Executive Director Karl Skau told reporters in Geneva. “Our supply chains may actually be on the verge of the most serious disruption since COVID and the Ukraine war in 2022.“
Mr. Skau said relief efforts were being hit by longer shipping times and rising costs as escalating violence in the Middle East continued into its third week due to Israeli and American attacks on Iran and retaliatory attacks by Tehran and allied groups.
running costs increase
Amid ongoing hostilities – including Iranian retaliatory strikes against Gulf states and Israeli attacks on Hezbollah targets in Lebanon – WFP’sHiping costs “have increased by 18 percent so far and there are thousands of trucks on our roads every day,” Mr. Skow explained. “They are now running on much more expensive fuel because of oil prices.”
He decried the impact of higher costs meaning “we can buy less food or provide less cash to beneficiaries”.
agency f has beenFamine situation in Sudan forced to cut food rations for people And is able to support only one in four extremely malnourished children in Afghanistan – currently the world’s worst malnutrition crisis.
Another big concern is related to this Disruption in global fertilizer markets “Just as the planting season is starting in sub-Saharan Africa,” Mr Skau said.
A quarter of the world’s fertilizer supply comes through the Strait of Hormuz, “which is now almost at a standstill”, he said.
Mr Skau stressed that rising global food and fuel costs could “deprive millions of households of staple foods, particularly in import-dependent countries such as sub-Saharan Africa and Asia.”
“If the conflict in the Middle East continues until June, an additional 45 million people could be pushed into severe hunger due to price increases,” He warned.
“It would take global hunger levels to an all-time record and that is a terrible, terrible prospect.”
impact of gulf attacks
Meanwhile, the humanitarian impacts of air traffic disruption are being felt acutely in Lebanon, one of the epicenters of the conflict, Imran Riza, the top UN aid official in the country, told reporters in Geneva.
“In 2024 (during the last Israel-Lebanon conflict) we were getting incredible amounts of aid from the Gulf countries, from the Saudis, from Qatar, from the UAE, from Oman, from Bahrain… We were getting a lot from Kuwait, but none of that is happening,” he said. “The air bridge is no longer there“
displacement and humanitarian needs lebanon The increase has resulted from Israeli airstrikes and displacement orders covering large parts of the small Middle Eastern nation’s territory.
Mr Riza said so About 132,700 people are living in 622 shelters. But the total number of people who have had to flee their homes is probably more than one million.
“If you consider that the population of Lebanon, civilians and refugees…, is close to five and a half million, (we’re) talking about 20 percent of the people living in Lebanon being displaced – and that will continue,” he said.
Evacuation orders apply to southern Lebanon, Beirut’s southern suburbs and parts of the Bekaa.
About this 70 percent of the displaced are not in sheltersThat creates challenges for humanitarians trying to reach them, Mr. Riza said.
He also said that due to military operations it has become very difficult to reach people who refuse to leave their villages.
He specifically talked about the elderly, “people who cannot physically move and are very afraid of going out”.
“They are very vulnerable people who are left behind – and there are some who do not want to risk losing their homes, their villages.”
Concern about forced displacement
Recalling that Israel has increased its warning and displacement orders in southern Lebanon, “adding the area between the Litani and Zahrani rivers to the extensive part of Lebanese territory already covered,” the United Nations Human Rights Office (OHCHR) Spokesman Thamin al-Khaitan warned that the orders “could amount to forced displacement”, which is prohibited under international humanitarian law.
He stressed that in many cases, Israeli airstrikes have “destroyed entire residential buildings in dense urban environments, with multiple members of the same family, including women and children, often killed simultaneously”.
Listen to an interview with Christophe Boullierac, UNICEF Lebanon’s Head of Advocacy and Communications:
An OHCHR official said people displaced by the fighting and living in tents along Beirut’s coastline have been hit by airstrikes, while aAt least 16 medical workers have been killed in recent days.
“Statements by Israeli officials threatening to inflict on Lebanon the same level of destruction inflicted on Gaza are completely unacceptable“Mr Al-Khaitan insisted.
“Such rhetoric, combined with the Israeli military’s announcement that it will deploy additional forces and expand its ground incursion, will stoke deep fear and anxiety among the Lebanese population,” he said.
