The United Nations Office at Geneva
Multimedia Newsroom
Edited News | OHCHR , WHO , UNHCR , UNICEF , WFP
Middle East war impacts - OHCHR, WHO, UNHCR, UNICEF, WFP
Middle East war: UN warns of ‘toxic rain’ danger from oil depot strikes as mass displacement, aid supply shocks spread
Toxic “black rain” linked to strikes on oil depots, mass displacement and continuing disruption to humanitarian supply chains are upending lives across the Middle East and beyond after 10 days of war in the region, UN humanitarians said on Tuesday.
Speaking to reporters in Geneva, UN Human Rights office spokesperson Ravina Shamdasani raised concerns about the health and environmental impacts of Israeli and U.S. strikes attacks on oil depots in Tehran as toxic pollutants spread in the air.
She said that these impacts raise “serious questions as to whether the proportionality and precaution obligations under international humanitarian law were met” in the attacks, stressing that the sites hit “do not appear to be of military exclusive usage.”
UN World Health Organization (WHO) spokesperson Christian Lindmeier warned that the “black rain” and “acidic rain” that’s been falling in Tehran after the strikes “is indeed a danger” for Iranians.
“We are in touch with the hospitals and with the authorities, and the Iranian authorities have issued an alert advising people to stay indoors, in light of the attacks on oil warehouses especially,” he said.
The UN agency is also monitoring the health risks of the “massive release” of toxic hydrocarbons, sulphur oxides and nitrogen compounds into the air.
Mr. Lindmeier said that additional reported Iranian strikes on oil infrastructures in Bahrain and in Saudi Arabia also raised concerns of “wider regional pollution exposure”, highlighting the long-term effects of pollutants, which affect respiratory health and contaminate water.
Turning to Lebanon, more than 100,00 people have been displaced by Israeli strikes and evacuation orders in the past 24 hours, bringing the total number of people uprooted by the conflict to almost 700,000.
The UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) representative in the country, Karolina Lindholm Billing, spoke of a faster pace of displacement compared to the conflict with Israel in 2024.
“We see cars lined along the street with people sleeping in them,” she told reporters. “Most fled in a rush with almost nothing. They’re seeking safety in in Beirut, [the] Mount Lebanon region, in northern Lebanon and parts of the Bekaa.”
The UNHCR official described her visit on Monday to a shelter in Beirut, where she met a woman in her nineties who said that she had lost 11 members of her family back in 2024.
“She's now displaced again, staying in the same school that was turned into a shelter in 2024 and now again in 2026…Stories like hers really illustrate the fear, uncertainty and repeated trauma that these hundreds of thousands of people are facing right now.”
In other impacts across the region, UNHCR said that significant numbers of people have been crossing back into Afghanistan from Iran.
According to the UN refugee agency some 110,000 have returned since the beginning of the year and around 1,700 have been coming back each day since the start of the Middle East war.
While insecurity and dwindling economic prospects are pushing Afghans out of Iran, they face more precarity and uncertainty upon returning to their home country.
Speaking from the Islam Qala in Afghanistan’s Herat province on the border with Iran, the UN Children Fund (UNICEF)’s representative for Afghanistan, Tajudeen Oyewale, reported an increase in returns and warned that the total number of children who have been screened and treated for malnutrition has doubled in the last week.
Supply chain disruptions due to the war are already delaying essential aid, too.
“The geopolitical tension is already disrupting procurement routes,” Mr. Oyewale said. “What this means is that supplies that we need to care for children and their mothers in the midst of this emergency will arrive late… A malnourished child will get the nutritional supplement required not immediately, but with some level of delay and at a higher cost.”
Jean-Martin Bauer, director of the UN World Food Programme (WFP)’s Food and Nutrition Analysis Service, warned of the impacts of the conflict in the Strait of Hormuz and in the Bab El-Mandeb strait off the coast of the Horn of Africa.
“Two key points of the global supply chain set-up are affected by restrictions and by risk, and shipping lines are diverting their services,” he said.
Mr. Bauer explained that the need for war risk insurance for shipments means an additional cost of “$2,000 to $4,000 for each container in areas that are at risk”.
“We're also seeing that we're needing to go the long way around the Cape of Good Hope to reach some of our key geographies,” he said.
Mr. Bauer gave the example of WFP’s biggest operation in Sudan, supplied with food purchased in India, brought via Salalah in Oman and Jeddah in Saudi Arabia into Port Sudan.
Today, shipments need to take a much longer route transiting through Tangiers, adding approximately 25 days to shipping times.
“That's an additional sail of 9,000 kilometres (5,592 miles)... It's like going coast to coast in the U.S. and then going back,” Mr. Bauer said.
-ends-
STORY Middle East war impacts - OHCHR, WHO, UNHCR, UNICEF, WFP
TRT: 3:03”
SOURCE: UNTV CH
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH/NATS
ASPECT RATIO: 16:9
DATELINE: 10 MARCH 2026 GENEVA, SWITZERLAND
1. Exterior wide shot: Palais des Nations, Flag Alley.
2. Medium reverse shot: Speakers at the podium of the press conference; speaker on screens; journalists in the Press room.
3. SOUNDBITE (English) – Ravina Shamdasani, spokesperson, UN Human Rights Office (OHCHR): “We are concerned about the impact of these attacks on civilians right to health as well as on the environment. We're also concerned that the foreseeable impact on civilians and the environment of these strikes raises serious questions as to whether the proportionality and precaution obligations under international humanitarian law were met in these attacks. These attack sites do not appear to be of military exclusive usage.”
4. Wide reverse shot: Speakers at the podium of the press conference; speaker on screens; journalists in the Press room.
5. SOUNDBITE (English) – Christian Lindmeier, spokesperson, World Health Organization (WHO): “The black rain and the acidic rain coming with it is indeed a danger for the population, respiratory mainly, and it could be acidic depending of course what context you have. We are in touch with the hospitals and with the authorities, and the Iranian authorities have issued an alert advising people to stay indoors, even in light of the attacks on oil warehouses especially.”
6. Wide reverse shot: Speakers at the podium of the press conference; speaker on screens; journalists in the Press room.
7. SOUNDBITE (English) – Christian Lindmeier, spokesperson, World Health Organization (WHO): “The additional reported strikes on oil infrastructures also in Bahrain and in Saudi Arabia certainly raised concerns of wider regional pollution exposure and the toxic pollutions and pollutants that affect respiratory health and contaminate water can have long-term effects.”
8. Medium shot: Journalist in the Press room.
9. SOUNDBITE (English) – Karolina Lindholm Billing, Representative in Lebanon, UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR): “During a visit yesterday that I did to a shelter in Beirut, I met with a woman in her nineties who had said she had lost eleven members of her family back in 2024 during the intensification then, and she's now displaced again, staying in the same school that was turned into a shelter in 2024 and now again in 2026. And stories like hers really illustrate the fear, uncertainty and repeated trauma that these hundreds of thousands of people are facing right now.”
10. Medium shot: Journalist in the Press room.
11. SOUNDBITE (English) – Tajudeen Oyewale, Representative for Afghanistan, UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF): “The geopolitical tension is already disrupting procurement routes. What this means is that supplies that we need to care for children and their mothers in the midst of this emergency will arrive late. A clear example is that a malnourished child will only get the nutritional supplement required not immediately, but with some level of delay and at a higher cost.”
12. Medium shot: Journalists in the Press room.
13. SOUNDBITE (English) – Jean-Martin Bauer, Director Food and Nutrition Analysis Service, World Food Programme (WFP): “We're seeing war risk insurance that's increasing and at a cost of between $2,000 and $4,000 for each container in areas that are at risk. We're also seeing that we're needing to go the long way around the Cape of Good Hope to reach some of our key geographies.”
14. Various shots of journalists in the Press room.
Similar Stories
1
1
1
Edited News | WHO , UNICEF
Aid agencies in Yemen highlighted the growing hunger emergency sparked by renewed fighting between Houthi opposition forces and Government troops, after mobile health clinics reported that hundreds of children displaced by the violence are suffering from the most deadly form of malnutrition.
1
1
1
Edited News | UNHCR
Displacement on the rise in Yemen as fighting continues - UNHCR
As hostilities worsen in Yemen, more people have been fleeing their homes, further intensifying the humanitarian crisis within the region, the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) warned on Tuesday.
1
1
1
Edited News | IOM , OHCHR , UNFPA , UNOG , UNHCR , WHO
Yemen’s humanitarian crisis growing by the hour amid spike in displacement
Yemenis displaced by renewed fighting have described fleeing for their lives amid shelling and gunfire, aid agencies reported on Friday, while highlighting the dramatic increase in humanitarian needs in the country and in Djibouti, where thousands have sought shelter.
1
1
1
Edited News | OHCHR , UNOG
The UN Human Rights Office issued on Friday a report documenting a shocking pattern of sexual violence amid Russia’s full-scale armed attack on Ukraine.
2
1
2
Edited News , Press Conferences | WMO
As world’s water reserves change, countries must prepare for a new reality: WMO
New data showing that rivers were at their lowest level for decades last year provides further evidence that the climate crisis is real and countries must act immediately to protect themselves from the increasing threat to communities and livelihoods, the UN World Meteorological Organization (WMO) said on Thursday.
The key findings from WMO’s State of Global Water Resources 2025 report covering the hydrological cycle and extreme events in the five-year period to last year:
- 2025 was one of driest years for river discharge in 35 years
- Past seven years have seen abnorfmal river flows
- Water storage on Earth’s land surface has decreased in past decade
- Widespread glacier loss across all regions for fourth consecutive year
- Asia and Africa are regions most affected by water-related disasters
- Water data availability has improved, but gaps remain in hard-hit areas
Highlighting the long-term decline in the Earth’s freshwater storage and glacier melt, WMO Secretary-General Celeste Saulo explained that the planet’s water reserves used to act as a planetary “savings account” that absorbed the occasional dry season, avoiding a water crisis. “One of the central stories of the 2025 report is what is happening to that savings account? And the simple answer is that we are depleting it,” she told journalists in Geneva.
Groundwater reserves are equally stretched and have been in decline since 2014, WMO’s report states, with nearly two-thirds of monitored wells worldwide showing levels lower than the historical norm and indicating a shift “further toward deficit…not recovery”.
“At the same time, we are seeing more water-related disasters,” Ms. Saulo said, while also stressing that the currently strengthening El Niño “will increase the risk of drought in some areas, and flooding in others”.
Glaciers disappearing
In 2025, for the fourth consecutive year, every major glaciated region on Earth lost ice mass, leading to short-term hazards including floods and long-term water insecurity, according to WMO.
Responding to a question about whether the changing global water cycle might have contributed to the deadly Nepal-China flooding disaster, Ms. Saulo explained that melting ice and rock was just one factor in the chain of events that ultimately sent a massive and deadly wall of water and debris downstream on 26 August, killing at least 1,367 people.
“You asked if it could happen again? Absolutely; the problem in this region is that there’s 63,700 glaciers at the last count,” she told a Press Conference in Geneva. “Even if you’re looking with remote sensing with satellites at these glaciers, you might see some faults, you might see some slight shifting, that does not mean necessarily catastrophic collapse. So, in order to plan for this, it’s very, very difficult. But the international community is looking very hard at ways in which we can bring people together to solve some of these monitoring issues.”
Data indicates that glaciers shrank between 2023 and 2025 with cumulative losses of 1,400 gigatonnes of water – or about one third of annual fresh water needs.
Every major glacier region on Earth lost ice for the fourth consecutive year.
“All 19 glacier regions around the globe lost ice; in Central Asia, Iceland, the Russian Arctic and western Canada and the United States, it was among the three worst years on record,” said Wayne Jenkinson, WMO’s Director of Hydrology and Cryosphere.
Some regions with smaller glaciers such as Central Europe, the Caucasus, the western Canada and the United States may already have reached “peak water”, Mr. Jenkinson warned.
“After this point, the glacier gives less meltwater each year simply because there is less ice left to melt. That matters for every community downstream that relies on water during hot, dry summers,” he explained.
Narelle van der Wel, WMO’s Head of Cryosphere Monitoring, Predictions and Services, stressed that while some further glacier loss is unavoidable, the eventual scale of the decline is not predetermined.
“Some glacier loss is inevitable, but total loss of glaciers is not yet inevitable,” she said, pointing to emissions reductions as central to limiting future losses.
Preparing for moving baselines
The report does not attribute every observed change to climate change alone. WMO says pressure on water resources and natural variability also contribute.
Mr. Jenkinson said governments need to prepare for “moving baselines” as historical patterns become less reliable.
“The situation 30 years ago is not where we are today,” he said. Countries, he added, need to prepare “for those changes that have really already arrived”.
ends
1
1
1
Edited News | OCHA , WHO
The deadly Ebola virus outbreak in DR Congo continues to spread across the vast country despite some success in containing it, aid officials said on Tuesday, in a renewed call for international support to help responders on the ground.
2
1
2
Press Conferences , Edited News | WFP
‘Super El Niño’ and converging crises worsen hunger in South Sudan and across the region - WFP
South Sudan’s hunger crisis is becoming increasingly catastrophic as violence, extreme weather and dwindling aid leave millions without enough food, the UN World Food Programme (WFP) warned on Tuesday.
1
1
1
Edited News | UN WOMEN
In war-torn Gaza, a growing number of women-headed households face “impossible decisions” every day, amid ongoing Israeli airstrikes and still-scarce resources, UN humanitarians said on Tuesday.
1
1
1
Edited News | OHCHR , UNOG
UN Human Rights Chief Volker Türk made the following remarks to the Enhanced Interactive Dialogue on the Independent Investigative Mechanism for Myanmar at the 63rd Human Rights Council.
1
Edited News | OHCHR , UNOG
UN Human Rights Chief Volker Türk today delivered an update on the global human rights situation to the 63rdsession of the Human Rights Council in Geneva.
1
1
1
Edited News | WHO
Repeated attacks on humanitarian warehouses put vital medical aid at risk in Ukraine - WHO
A new airstrike overnight damaged one of the main warehouses used by the UN health agency to store humanitarian medical supplies in the Kyiv region, the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Friday. This is the third attack to affect a WHO-used storage in the last three months.
2
2
2
Press Conferences , Edited News | WMO
Powerful El Niño heightens extreme-weather risks through 2027, as countries brace for impact - WMO
Fuelled by extraordinarily warm waters across the tropical Pacific Ocean, the El Niño climate pattern is expected to intensify in the coming months. Forecasters are almost certain that it will persist through February next year, with unusually warm conditions expected across the globe.