According to initial information from the Lebanese authorities, at least 86 people, including healthcare workers, have been injured in the strikes on Jabal Amel Hospital. 

The attacks “caused significant damage…to the emergency department and intensive care unit”, said World Health Organization (WHO) representative in Lebanon, Dr Abdinasir Abubakar.

Speaking from Beirut on Tuesday, Dr Abubakar explained that Jabal Amel is one of the few hospitals currently operating in the south.

Deadly pattern 

In just three months, WHO has verified almost 190 attacks on healthcare, which have killed 128 healthcare workers and injured 332 others. The past week alone has seen 11 attacks.

“These attacks kill and maim, they also deprive people of the health services they need,” the WHO representative said.  

Healthcare in Tyre district has suffered the worst impacts of hostilities between Hezbollah fighters and Israel in the last few days; two out of three hospitals, Jabal Amel and Hiram – which was attacked last Sunday – are damaged, while the third hospital is “overwhelmed as it’s dealing with the influx of increased numbers of injured patients”, Dr Abubakar said. 

Access to essential services is “critically constrained,” he insisted, especially in southern Lebanon, where patients face up to 48-hour delays to reach the nearest referral facilities. 

A matter of life and death 

“Six hospitals have not yet resumed maternity delivery services and are currently providing only emergency room care,” Dr Abubakar stressed. “For pregnant women and newborns, delays in care can mean the difference between life and death.”

The WHO representative also flagged the challenging health situation in shelters, hosting some 130,000 people who have fled the fighting. Displacement is on the rise following the most recent Israeli evacuation orders. The escalating violence and warnings of Israeli strikes on Beirut’s southern suburbs, home to hundreds of thousands of civilians, prompted a Security Council meeting on Monday.

The UN health agency has been monitoring infectious diseases within shelters and host communities, reporting “an increased trend of acute watery diarrhoea”. 

“We are in the summer season and now the risk of cholera may be increasing,” Dr Abubakar warned.

With humanitarian needs outpacing the response, the WHO representative insisted on the need to sustain funding for essential health services.

“We also need the attacks on healthcare to stop, and we need active protection for healthcare,” he said, reiterating calls for a sustained ceasefire and durable peace.

Since the start of the current escalation in fighting between Israel and Hezbollah fighters on 2 March, more than almost 3,400 people have been killed in Lebanon and nearly 10,400 people have been injured, most of them civilians. 

“These have been among the deadliest months for Lebanon since the start of the conflict in October 2023,” Dr Abubakar insisted.

A US-brokered ceasefire between Lebanon and Israel took effect on 17 April but has never been fully observed by either side. It was nominally extended twice, most recently on 16 May for a 45-day period. 

Southeast Asia and South Asia were first to be impacted by the most severe energy crisis in a generation, said Dario Liguti from the UN Economic Commission for Europe (ECE), but he warned that “it is an unfolding energy crisis,” with motorists in Europe already bracing themselves every time they fill up the tank.

Given how national economies the world over remain so dependent on fossil fuels and regional or geopolitical shocks, ECE has been bringing countries together in Geneva and elsewhere to discuss ways to wean themselves off fossil fuels, or at least use them more wisely.

One wasted resource that could be used far more widely is natural gas – methane – which is commonly burned off, or “flared” at oil wells, fossil fuel processing plants or refineries, as a safety measure.

Instead of burning off the gas – as is often the case at refineries the world over – it could be stored and used when needed, lowering our dependence on primary sources of energy, UNECE maintains.

The agency is already leading efforts to reduce emissions of methane which is more than 80 times more potent than CO₂ over a 20-year period and a clear driver of global warming.

Clean energy transition crucial

In line with sustainability goals which the world’s nations agreed to in 2015, the UN supports a transition to renewable energy production, away from fossil fuels.

The current crisis “is a clear signal that we need to advance with the energy transition in particular through the electrification of transport or heating,” Mr. Liguti stressed. 

“We need to accelerate renewable energy deployment because these are decentralised energy sources and much cleaner, not only from an environmental perspective, but from an energy security perspective too.”

Hunger worsens in Lebanon

In Lebanon, where ongoing clashes between Hezbollah fighters and Israel continue to cause panic and fear, the economic impact has strained livelihoods, rising costs and supply disruptions are worsening food insecurity.

Nearly a quarter of the population is facing acute hunger, according to UN-backed food security experts.

A new alert from the IPC (the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification) on Wednesday warned that the situation is deteriorating rapidly. Around 1.2 million people could face high levels of acute food insecurity between now and August – a sharp increase from the 874,000 affected in late 2025 and early 2026.

“Behind every number are families struggling to meet their food needs consistently,” the World Food Programme (WFP) said, as it continues to scale up assistance with partners.

Public services stretched

The humanitarian situation is further compounded by displacement and fragile public services. In one school-turned-shelter in Jdeideh, in northern Beirut city, 377 people – around 90 families – are living in cramped conditions, highlighting the pressures on basic infrastructure.

Health services are also under strain. The UN World Health Organization (WHO) has been working with partners to strengthen hospitals, including support for blood banks to ensure life-saving transfusions during emergencies.

Despite these efforts, aid agencies warn that needs continue to outpace resources.

The crisis in the Strait of Hormuz, they say, is not just a regional disruption but a global shock, but one that is amplifying existing vulnerabilities and pushing already fragile humanitarian systems closer to the brink. 

And with Brent Crude still trading at more than $100 per barrel, many workers and households have reverted to using oil and coal, raising concerns of lasting environmental damage, while numerous countries have already announced fuel rationing and a move to online meetings.

Just over four weeks since Israeli–US bombing of Iran began, sparking the wider regional conflict, the almost immediate disruption to tanker traffic in the vital Persian Gulf waterway cut oil shipments worldwide, followed by natural gas, coal, transport, food and fertilizers.

“Only a small group of LDCs [Least Developed Countries] are net energy exporters: South Sudan, Angola, Chad, Mozambique, Lao PDR, Myanmar and Yemen,” said UNCTAD’s Junior Davis, Head of Policy Analysis and Research Branch Division for Africa, LDCs and Special Programmes. 

“The majority are net importers, including Niger, Zambia, Rwanda, Ethiopia, Tanzania, Madagascar, Togo, Sudan, Uganda, Nepal, Eritrea, Benin, Bangladesh, Cambodia and Senegal.” 

Even oil exporters face pain

Highlighting the case of Angola, Mr. Davis noted that the oil-exporting developing countries may only see “limited gains” from doing so, “because many lack domestic refining capacity and re-import refined petroleum products at higher prices”. 

Neighbouring Zambia faces even “greater hardship” because it relies on refined fuel imported from the Middle East (and notably the UAE), just as LDCs remain “heavily dependent” on fertilizer produced abroad, since the manufacturing process relies heavily on natural gas (methane) – the UNCTAD economist explained.

According to the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), 17 of the world’s poorest nations need to import more than 30 per cent of their cereal needs. Even more worrying, the same number of Least Developed Countries spend more than half of what they earn from exports just to buy food. 

“The implication is that rising energy prices will rapidly transmit into food prices and amplify the risk of hunger for households,” Mr. Davis noted.

Limited room to manoeuvre

Finding quick solutions to the energy crisis will not be easy, given the high level of debt repayments hanging over many of the world’s poorest nations – an issue that the UN Secretary-General has repeatedly criticized and urged the financial sector to reform, in the interests of fairness, competitiveness and growth.

“Given how heavily indebted many developing countries are to foreign lenders and the squeeze on public spending they have faced for years, it’s highly likely that households will have to pay more for their energy, food and fertilizers and use less. It’s not going to be pretty.”

Against this worrying backdrop, the UN trade and development agency, UNCTAD, noted that 15 of the world’s Least Developed Countries have yet to recover from the turbulent COVID years, with their economies in worse shape than in 2019.

Crisis measures

Family handout

Family handout

Family pictures

‘Nasty and traumatic’

‘Absolutely life-changing’

The agency said that despite the huge influx of humanitarian goods into Gaza during phase one of the ceasefire which began on 19 January, it has not been enough to make up for the 15 months of war when supply convoys were frequently blocked, impeded or cancelled by the Israeli military.

Speaking from Gaza, UNICEF’s Rosalia Bollen said that being unable to bring humanitarian relief into the enclave including vaccines and ventilators for pre-term babies “will have devastating real-life consequences” for children and their parents.

“If we’re unable to bring that in, routine vaccination will come to a standstill”, she told UN News. “Neonatal units won’t be able to care for preterm babies, so this is a real-life consequence that we’ll be dealing with very, very soon if we’re unable to resume the aid supplies coming in.”

The UNICEF Communication Specialist said that existing aid supplies have already been largely distributed throughout Gaza.

“The needs are so high that we haven’t been able to stockpile goods…that’s why these latest restrictions are so devastating,” she said, adding that the first phase of the ceasefire wasn’t just a pause in hostilities…it really was a lifeline for families here…The mood here is very depressed; families that I speak with are deeply worried about what the future is going to hold.”

Nutrition gains reversed

The aid blockade comes as the UN aid coordination office, OCHA, reported a slight improvement in dietary diversity during the ceasefire which humanitarians says “is now being reversed” by the aid blockade.

Before the current conflict, acute malnutrition in Gaza was almost non-existent, but today more than 3,000 children and 1,000 pregnant or breastfeeding women have been referred for acute malnutrition treatment.

In a more positive development, OCHA noted that February showed a slight improvement in the number of children and pregnant and breastfeeding women consuming the minimum required food groups.

Citing assessments by nutrition partners, the UN aid office added that about eight per cent of children consumed four or more food groups and there was “a noticeable increase in the consumption of fruits, vegetables, eggs and dairy products”, indicating increased availability at local markets.

The ceasefire between Hamas and Israel had allowed aid organisations such as UNICEF to scale up urgently needed supplies for children and their parents in Gaza. These items included vaccines for routine immunisation, disposable medical supplies for hospitals, along with syringes, gauze and specialised equipment such as incubators, and ventilators to help pre-term babies breathe.

Other fundamental repairs had also been started to rehabilitate smashed public infrastructure, too.

“We had just managed to start increasing water production, especially in the north, ” said Ms. UNICEF’s Ms. Bollen. “We’ve been repairing water wells, we’ve been increasing distribution possibilities. All of that will be coming to a standstill.”

 

She added: “Some people might not be aware they are eligible for these two free vaccines, or had them previously and think they might not need them again.

“We have walk-in opportunities all across the county, with lots of local pharmacies taking part, helping to make opportunities to have the vaccines more accessible to people. You can also still book a vaccine appointment if preferred.”

Appointments and details of walk-in clinics are on the NHS Vaccinators website, external.

People in the clinical at-risk groups include anyone with conditions that affect breathing, some heart conditions, kidney or liver disease, diabetes and some conditions that affect the brain or nerves, such as Parkinson’s disease, motor neurone disease, multiple sclerosis or cerebral palsy.