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Middle East crisis puts aid, food, fuel further out of reach for millions already struggling – UN agencies
As the Middle East crisis continues the humanitarian fallout is worsening, with aid route disruptions and food and fuel price hikes wrecking the lives and rights of the most vulnerable, UN agencies warned on Friday.
Heightened insecurity and instability around key Gulf routes, including the Strait of Hormuz, are driving up prices of basic goods and delaying the delivery of critical supplies, UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) spokesperson Carlotta Wolf told reporters in Geneva.
“Rising transport, food and fuel costs disproportionately affect people who are already living in emergencies, including millions of refugees and displaced people who are among the hardest hit, while also reducing the ability of aid agencies to deliver timely assistance,” she said.
UNHCR has been forced to adapt to the situation by rerouting sea cargo and increasingly relying on alternative land corridors, Ms. Wolf explained, leading to longer transport times and generating additional costs.
Freight rates from countries where relief items are sourced have risen by nearly 18 per cent since the start of the crisis, while the capacity of UNHCR’s global transport providers has dropped from 97 to 77 per cent since the start of 2026.
“For some shipments, costs have more than doubled, such as transport costs for relief items from UNHCR global stockpiles in Dubai to our Sudan and Chad operations,” Ms. Wolf said.
The UNHCR spokesperson expressed particular concern about the situation for Africa, home to many overlapping, “often tragically neglected” displacement crises.
In Kenya, where one of UNHCR’s global stockpiles is located, the increase in fuel prices has affected the availability of trucks for containers of emergency supplies destined to major aid operations in Ethiopia, DR Congo and South Sudan.
This means that “people in dire need are receiving things later than what's needed,” Ms. Wolf said.
She further stressed that UNHCR operations globally are only 23 per cent funded out of the required total of $8.5 billion.
“Each and every dollar that is spent additionally on transportation is a dollar less that we can provide to people forced to flee… The impact for the people that we serve is already there,” she said.
Restrictions on free passage of fertilizer through the Strait of Hormuz are also driving food prices up, and inflation is on the rise, meaning that people who are already struggling to survive in emergency contexts are able to afford even less basic goods, the UNHCR spokesperson insisted.
UN Secretary-General António Guterres warned on Thursday that the crisis in the Strait of Hormuz could push tens of millions into poverty, worsen global hunger and have prolonged negative effects on the global economy.
UN Human Rights Office (OHCHR) spokesperson Jeremy Laurence underscored the devastating and immediate human rights impact of the situation, and specifically of the lack of fuel.
“A small farmer in Africa or Asia or Latin America can't operate his machinery on his small plot of land” which serves to sustain his extended family, he said. Generators which run on diesel fuel are put out of commission, while school buses cannot operate and children are deprived of an education.
“It always impacts the most vulnerable first,” he concluded.
-Ends-
STORY Middle East crisis ripple effect – UNHCR, OHCHR
TRT: 3:07’’
SOURCE: UNTV CH
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH/NATS
ASPECT RATIO: 16:9
DATELINE: 1 MAY 2026
1. Exterior wide shot: Palais des Nations, Flag Alley.
2. Wide shot: Speakers at the podium of the press conference.
3. SOUNDBITE (English) – Carlotta Wolf, spokesperson, UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR): “Rising transport, food and fuel costs disproportionately affect people who are already living in emergencies, including millions of refugees and displaced people who are among the hardest hit, while also reducing the ability of aid agencies to deliver timely assistance.”
4. Medium reverse shot: Speakers at the podium of the press conference; speaker on screen.
5. SOUNDBITE (English) – Carlotta Wolf, spokesperson, UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR): “While the capacity of some of our global transport providers has dropped from 97 to 77 per cent from the start of the year, for some shipments, costs have more than doubled, such as transport costs for relief items from UNHCR global stockpiles in Dubai to our Sudan and Chad operations.”
6. Medium-wide reverse shot: Speakers at the podium of the press conference; speaker on screens; journalists in the Press room.
7. SOUNDBITE (English) – Carlotta Wolf, spokesperson, UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR): “UNHCR operations globally are only 23 per cent [funded] out of the $8.5 billion that are needed, [this] means that each and every dollar that is spent additionally on transportation is a dollar less that we can provide to people forced to flee on the ground.”
8. Wide shot: Journalists in the Press room; speaker on screens.
9. SOUNDBITE (English) – Carlotta Wolf, spokesperson, UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR): “The increase of fuel prices in Nairobi has affected specifically the availability of trucks for containers of emergency supplies that we were ready to send to three main operations that are there, you know, Ethiopia, the DRC, Congo and South Sudan. So, meaning that people in dire need are receiving things already later than what's needed.”
10. Medium reverse shot: Speakers at the podium of the press conference; speaker on screens; journalists in the Press room.
11. SOUNDBITE (English) – Carlotta Wolf, spokesperson, UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR): “Increasing food prices, for example, prices of very basic, you know, goods on the ground are also, because of inflation and because of the fertilizer issues, are also rising, meaning that people who are already in fragile contexts, in emergencies are able to buy less of their basic needs.”
12. Medium shot: Speakers at the podium of the press conference.
13. SOUNDBITE (English) – Jeremy Laurence, spokesperson, UN Human Rights Office (OHCHR): “Not to forget the human rights impact, particularly when it comes to the lack of fuel, so how is that impacting people on the ground? Unfortunately, it always impacts the most vulnerable first.”
14. Wide shot: Journalists in the Press room; speaker on screens.
15. SOUNDBITE (English) – Jeremy Laurence, spokesperson, UN Human Rights Office (OHCHR): “A small farmer in Africa or Asia or Latin America somewhere, can't operate his machinery on his small plot of land. He's got that small plot of land, it’s got to sustain his family and sometimes an extended family. Then just think of the bigger picture here. So what about the kids who have to get to schools? So they need to get on a bus. If the buses, if the services can't be provided because there's no fuel, they're deprived of an education.”
16. Various shots of journalists in the Press room.
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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