U.N. official warns of 'grave peril' in Middle East, cites fuel shortages and mass displacement

Tom Fletcher, the U.N. USG, warned on March 7 that the humanitarian situation across the Middle East is in a moment of "grave peril" and urged an "immediate cessation of hostilities" and negotiations "in line with the charter of the United Nations." He said civilians are paying the price of the fighting, with homes, hospitals and schools being hit and large numbers of people displaced.

Fletcher said U.N. agencies are already reporting heavy human tolls and displacement. He cited reports from U.N. agencies that "over a 190 children" have been killed since the escalation, giving a country-by-country breakdown he attributed to those agencies. He said authorities in Iran reported more than 1,000 deaths and damage to more than 100 civilian sites, and that UNHCR and IOM reported roughly 100,000 people internally displaced in the last week.

Why it matters: Fletcher warned that disruption to maritime corridors and supply chains will push up food prices and squeeze health systems, compounding suffering for the most vulnerable. He said the U.N. and partners are scaling up operations, but access and supplies are constrained.

Fletcher described acute shortages in Gaza after an initial closure of crossings, saying that while some crossings have reopened, others "including Rafah" remained closed and medical evacuations were suspended. He said the U.N. had brought in "less than a 1,000,000 liters of fuel" this week while the bare minimum needed to keep services running is "more than 2,000,000 liters." He also said that key NGO partners remained restricted in their work.

On Lebanon and other fronts, Fletcher said preexisting vulnerabilities have been exacerbated: WFP had reported 874,000 people in Lebanon lacking food before the recent escalation, he said, and the U.N. is seeking to mobilize additional funding and resources for the country. In Afghanistan, Fletcher said fighting on the Pakistan border has killed dozens and damaged civilian facilities, including an IOM transit-center hospital, and that "more than 16,000 families" have fled their homes in the latest phase of displacement.

Fletcher said he has been in close contact with national representatives and agency partners, including IFRC and UNHCR, and that the U.N. had called Iran's permanent representative to discuss needs. He stressed the risk that attention and funding will be redirected from other crises — in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Sudan, South Sudan and Ukraine — toward sustaining the fighting.

When asked what $1 billion a day could achieve, Fletcher said such funding could save large numbers of lives. "We would save millions of lives with $1 billion," he said, adding that the U.N. is attempting to reach "87,000,000 lives with $23,000,000,000" in its current planning.

Fletcher closed by praising humanitarian workers who continue to operate in dangerous conditions and by reiterating that civilians "must be protected. Full stop." The briefing ended with Fletcher saying he would remain engaged and would return for further briefings.

Sources and attribution: Direct quotations and statistics in this report are attributed to Tom Fletcher as recorded in the briefing. Questions from correspondents included Valeria Robeco (ANSA Newswire) and others; their questions and Fletcher's responses are summarized above.