Yemen

UN Emergency Relief Coordinator Tom Fletcher has allocated $48 million from the UN Central Emergency Response Fund to maintain aid operations of the UN Humanitarian Air Service, run by the World Food Programme, in Chad, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Haiti, Kenya, Nigeria, South Sudan, Sudan and Syria.

Data released by the UN Development Programme (UNDP) suggests the military escalation in the Middle East may cost economies in the region from 3.7 to 6 per cent of their collective gross domestic product (GDP). This represents a loss of $120-194 billion and exceeds the cumulative regional GDP growth achieved in 2025.

In Ukraine, recent attacks have caused civilian casualties and damage to critical infrastructure, the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) reports. In Odesa, a 28 March strike killed people, damaging a maternity hospital and more than 70 homes. The World Health Organization (WHO) verified 124 attacks on healthcare in Ukraine, out of 357 globally.

Cuba’s energy crisis has had cascading effects on essential services. The restructured $94 million Plan of Action aims to assist 2 million people — one in five nationwide. To date, $26 million has been received, leaving a funding gap of $68 million.

In Somalia, fuel prices doubled in recent days, from $0.60 to $1.50 per litre — a more than 100 per cent jump — due mainly to the impact of the escalation in the Middle East, authorities and UN partners report. These rising costs are driving up prices of food and water, the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs finds.

In Lebanon, where the Ministry of Public Health reported over 70 fatalities and over 435 injuries since the start escalated bombardments in the south and in Beirut’s southern suburbs, the UN country team and Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) is scaling up the humanitarian response.

In Madagascar, the Government reported at least 52 deaths following Tropical Cyclone Gezani that made landfall earlier this month near Toamasina on the eastern coast. More than 800 people have been injured, nine remain missing and some 470,000 people have been impacted by the cyclone.

In Haiti, amid continued violence and mass displacement, recruitment and use of children by armed groups rose 200 per cent in 20025, according to a report published today by the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF). Children account for over half of the 1.4 million people internally displaced in the country.

In Gaza, the UN and its aid partners coordinated 10 humanitarian missions with the Israeli authorities on Wednesday to collect incoming food, vaccines, fuel and health supplies from the Kerem Shalom/Kerem Abu Salem and Zikim crossings. The UN Development Programme began removing solid waste from a dumping site in Gaza City.

Amid Yemen’s protracted, interlocking political, security and humanitarian crises, Security Council speakers today stressed the urgent need to relaunch an inclusive political process under United Nations auspices to achieve a negotiated settlement to the conflict.