The United Nations has warned that the ongoing conflict in the Middle East risks adding 45 million people to acute hunger levels, should the war continue through June.
According to Carl Skau, deputy executive director of the UN’s World Food Programme, price rises could push an additional 45 million people into acute hunger, taking global hunger levels to an all-time record.
Skau stated, “If the Middle East conflict continues through June, an additional 45 million people could be pushed into acute hunger by price rises. This would take global hunger levels to an all-time record, and it’s a terrible, terrible prospect.”
The US-Israeli attacks on Iran, which began on February 28, have disrupted key humanitarian aid routes, delaying life-saving shipments to some of the world’s worst crises, with shipping costs increasing by 18 percent since the war began.
In Gaza, residents are stockpiling dwindling goods as border closures and the Iran war further strain already fragile supplies, with shortages worsening across the besieged enclave.
Israel is set to partially reopen Gaza’s Rafah crossing with Egypt on Wednesday, ending a two-week shutdown that has deepened an already catastrophic humanitarian crisis in the decimated territory.
The World Health Organization’s regional director for the Eastern Mediterranean warned last week that only about 200 trucks a day were entering Gaza, far short of the estimated daily requirement of 600.
Meanwhile, more than 21 million people in Sudan, nearly half of the population, face acute hunger, with famine confirmed in areas where months of fighting have made access for aid workers largely impossible.
The UN warned in January that aid to Sudan could run out within months unless hundreds of millions of additional dollars are pledged, amidst a brutal war between the military government and paramilitary Rapid Support Forces that has killed tens of thousands of people and displaced 14 million.
Source: Original Media Outlet Name
