UN warns global aid at risk

GENEVA:

The United Nations aid chief warned on Wednesday that the conflict in the Middle East is straining humanitarian operations worldwide, disrupting supply chains and slowing the delivery of life-saving assistance to numerous crisis zones.

"We are in a moment of grave peril for the Middle East and, actually I believe, for the wider world," Tom Fletcher, the UN aid chief, told Reuters.

The US-Israeli war with Iran, which has expanded to Lebanon and dragged in Gulf countries, has convulsed global markets and disrupted supply chains, with airspace closures and the halt of shipping through the critical Strait of Hormuz.

Fletcher said aid supplies to Gaza and sub-Saharan Africa are being affected by the conflict, as humanitarian relief that needs to travel through the Strait of Hormuz or through airspace in the Gulf has been largely blocked or constrained.

Conflict-ridden Somalia, which is facing a major drought, and Sudan are among a number of countries facing dire humanitarian crises.

"These (constraints) will damage our humanitarian supply chains, reduce the humanitarian supplies we can get to people who need them, but they'll also drive up energy costs and food costs across the region," Fletcher said.