Geneva – March 2026
UN Emergency Relief Coordinator Tom Fletcher issued a dire warning today, stating that the ongoing war in the Middle East is costing the international community approximately $1 billion per day in humanitarian aid, reconstruction, and economic ripple effects. Speaking to reporters in Geneva, Fletcher described the situation as “a moment of grave peril,” emphasizing that violence is spreading faster than humanitarian agencies can respond, causing mass displacement and global economic shocks.
The UN’s $23 billion global humanitarian appeal for 87 million of the most vulnerable people remains two-thirds underfunded. Fletcher stressed that even an additional $1 billion could “save millions of lives.” He singled out Gaza and Sudan as the most critically under-resourced crises, with millions at risk of starvation and death if funding gaps persist.
Fletcher highlighted the closure of the Strait of Hormuz on March 2 — which handles 20% of global oil — as a major driver of rising food, energy, and fertilizer costs worldwide. He warned that further escalation could damage other supply routes, directly impacting humanitarian deliveries to sub-Saharan Africa and beyond.
The UN official also condemned the increasing attacks on aid workers, noting that 90% of drone-strike fatalities last year were civilians, many of them humanitarians. “Aid workers are increasingly under attack,” he said. “Human ingenuity is being applied to find ever more sinister ways to kill at scale.”
Despite the dire outlook, Fletcher affirmed: “We are overstretched, under sustained attack and under-resourced, but we refuse to retreat from our principles and we refuse to retreat from our mission.”
