UN Emergency Relief Chief Tom Fletcher has condemned the "$1 billion-a-day" cost of the war in the Middle East, highlighting soaring humanitarian needs and critically low aid funding. Fletcher warned that without additional support, "millions of people will die." The UN's $23 billion appeal to assist 87 million vulnerable people remains two-thirds underfunded, with over $14 billion still needed.
Fletcher noted that Gaza and Sudan are top priorities for funding. The closure of the Strait of Hormuz on March 2nd is also impacting global food, energy, and fertilizer costs, with potential further escalation threatening humanitarian supply routes, particularly to sub-Saharan Africa. "Aid workers are increasingly under attack," Fletcher stated, with 90% of drone attack victims last year being civilians. Despite being "overstretched, under sustained attack and under-resourced," he affirmed, "we refuse to retreat from our mission."