How Middle East conflicts are exacerbating global hunger and jeopardizing a generation

Analysis How Middle East conflicts are exacerbating global hunger and jeopardizing a generation
More than 96 percent of women and children in Gaza cannot meet their basic nutritional needs. (AFP)
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Updated 15 January 2025
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How Middle East conflicts are exacerbating global hunger and jeopardizing a generation

How Middle East conflicts are exacerbating global hunger and jeopardizing a generation
  • Children in Sudan and Gaza face malnutrition, resulting in stunted growth, developmental delays, and cognitive challenges
  • During famine, many succumb to cholera or malaria as malnourished bodies have depleted resistance, experts warn

DUBAI: Conflicts in the Middle East have intensified the global hunger crisis, leaving more children vulnerable to malnutrition and developmental issues, potentially jeopardizing the future of an entire generation.

Globally, almost 160 million people are in need of urgent assistance to stave off hunger, according to the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification, or IPC, a global partnership that measures food insecurity.

While economic turmoil and climate extremes are among the top drivers of rising hunger worldwide, it is the conflicts in Gaza and Sudan that are the primary causes in the Middle East and North Africa region, according to the Global Report on Food Crises.

These conflicts, which have triggered mass displacements, disrupted supply chains and led to a significant drop in agricultural production, have deepened existing food insecurity for millions of people in an already climate stressed region.

The spillover of Gaza hostilities has exacerbated the climate crisis in the region and put more people in Yemen, Lebanon and Syria at the risk of food insecurity.

In 2024, more than 41 million people were acutely food insecure across the MENA region, according to the latest figures of the World Food Programme.




There are no official figures on hunger-related deaths in Sudan. (AFP)

Almost half of these were in Sudan, where 24.6 million people are facing acute malnutrition, including 638,000 living in famine conditions and 8.1 million teetering on the brink of mass starvation.

The conflict between the Sudanese Armed Forces and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces, which broke out on April 15, 2023, has displaced at least 10 million people, making it the world’s largest internal displacement crisis.

The IPC’s declaration of a famine in Sudan marks only the third formal famine determination since the international famine monitoring system was established two decades ago. Previous classifications were made in Somalia in 2011, South Sudan in 2017, and South Sudan again in 2020.

Children are bearing the brunt of Sudan’s hunger crisis.

Timmo Gaasbeek, a food security expert who has worked in Sudan, said that it is often infants and young children who are among the first to succumb to malnutrition and starvation during times of famine.

“Young children, and the elderly, are more vulnerable than adults, and will be at higher risk of death due to different diseases like diarrhea or malaria,” Gaasbeek told Arab News.

“In famines, most people die of diseases that their bodies have no resistance to because of hunger, rather than of lack of food itself.”

As of November 2024, an estimated 4.7 million children under the age of five, as well as pregnant and breastfeeding women, were suffering from acute malnutrition in Sudan, according to WFP.




Palestinian health authorities and the World Peace Foundation expect the number of children who have succumbed to hunger in Gaza to be far higher than official estimates. (AFP)

Even in areas where famine has not been declared, persistent hunger and malnutrition can also ultimately result in death. “Even a 35 percent deficit in energy intake can be fatal if sustained long enough,” Gaasbeek said.

“Millions of people in Sudan are currently at this level of hunger, or worse.”

Widespread hunger in Sudan has been compounded by a sharp economic decline, high food prices, and weather extremes combined with poor sanitation, which has triggered a deadly cholera outbreak, creating what has been dubbed “the world’s biggest humanitarian crisis.”

As of December, the IPC had declared famine in five areas, including Zamzam, Abu Shouk and Al-Salam in North Darfur. People in five other areas of North Darfur, including the besieged Al-Fasher, could face starvation by May. A further 17 areas are at risk of famine-level malnutrition.

As a result of the fighting, restrictions on aid and other logistical challenges, it took three months for a WFP aid convoy to reach Zamzam displacement camp in North Darfur, home to 500,000 people and the first area where famine was declared in August.

“The combination of fighting around North Darfur’s capital Al-Fasher, and impassable roads brought on by the rainy season from June to September, severed incoming transport of food assistance for months,” WFP said in a statement at the time.

Access was only made possible after Sudanese authorities agreed to temporarily open the Adre border crossing from Chad into Darfur until February 2025.

This aid was a drop in the ocean, however, as the destruction of Sudanese farming has set the country back years.




An internally displaced women sits next to a World Food Programme truck during a food distribution in Bentiu. (AFP)

Gaasbeek said that it would take about 800,000 tons of food aid in 2026 and 400,000 tons in 2027 to minimize hunger-related deaths in Sudan, which can only happen if the war ends before the start of the next planting season in June 2025.

“The key to stopping hunger in Sudan is getting more food into the country,” he said.

About two thirds of grain consumed in Sudan is produced locally, and commercial imports provide about a third. However, those two aspects are affected by the war and economic collapse.

“Commercial imports are maxed out at the moment as consumers have limited purchasing power and numerous logistical and financial challenges hindering food distribution,” Gaasbeek said.

“Companies have limited resources to import more. This means that the only thing that can make a difference this year is an increase in food aid imports.”

He estimates that if aid deliveries remain limited, some 6 million people could die from hunger in 2025. “If the conflict continues unabated, or worse escalates further, both food production and imports would stagnate, requiring very high levels of food aid to prevent mass starvation.”

While there are no official figures on hunger-related deaths in Sudan, Gaasbeek estimates that hunger and disease killed about 500,000 people in 2024 — about one percent of the population.

INNUMBERS

• 18.2m Children born into hunger in 2024 — or 35 every minute — according to Save the Children.

• 5 percent Rise in the number of children born into hunger in 2024 compared to a year earlier, according to UN FAO.


“It is not unrealistic, especially that the deaths of children are not very visible,” he said.

On Jan. 6, the UN launched a $4.2 billion call for funding to assist 20.9 million of the 30.4 million people across Sudan who are now in desperate need. More than half of them are children.

In late December, the Sudanese government rejected the IPC’s conclusions that famine was now rife in Sudan, accusing the organization of procedural and transparency failings and of failing to use updated field data.

The IPC had requested access to other areas at risk of famine in South Darfur, Al-Jazirah and Khartoum to gain data on the situation, but the government has been accused of stonewalling such efforts.

Sudan is not the only hunger hotspot in the MENA region.

The war between Israel and the Palestinian militant group Hamas, which began on Oct. 7, 2023, has displaced some 90 percent of Gaza’s two million people and has led to high levels of acute food insecurity, with half the population expected to face extreme malnutrition.

On Nov. 9, the Famine Review Committee issued an alert warning of “imminent famine” in the besieged northern Gaza, where the World Health Organization estimates some 75,000 inhabitants remain.




With some 70 percent of Gaza’s crop fields destroyed, and with shops, factories and bakeries damaged or destroyed, domestic food manufacture has all but collapsed, according to the IPC. (AFP)


Many of the displaced are battling frigid winter temperatures in squalid tents, frequently flooded by heavy rain in south and central Gaza, without consistent access to food or medical services.

Early in the conflict, Israel imposed a blockade on the Gaza Strip, severely limiting the amount of humanitarian aid that was permitted to enter. Tighter restrictions have been imposed on northern Gaza since last October, as Israel intensifies efforts to weed out Hamas fighters.

In December, Israeli authorities allowed only two aid convoys to enter northern Gaza, according to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, exacerbating the hunger crisis.

With some 70 percent of Gaza’s crop fields destroyed, and with shops, factories and bakeries damaged or destroyed, domestic food manufacture has all but collapsed, according to the IPC.

As in Sudan, the burden of food scarcity has fallen on vulnerable children. In June, the WHO recorded 32 deaths from malnutrition, including 28 children under the age of five.

“Over 8,000 children under five years old have been diagnosed and treated for acute malnutrition, including 1,600 children with severe acute malnutrition,” WHO chief Tedros Ghebreyesus said at the time.

However, Palestinian health authorities and the World Peace Foundation expect the number of children who have succumbed to hunger in Gaza to be far higher than official estimates.




A woman bakes bread in a traditional clay oven at a makeshift displacement camp in Khan Yunis. (AFP)


More than 96 percent of women and children in Gaza cannot meet their basic nutritional needs, as they survive on rationed flour, lentils, pasta and canned goods — a diet that slowly compromises their health, according to the UN children’s fund, UNICEF.

For children, the impact of malnutrition on development can be irreversible.

“It affects their mental capacities and can put them at risk of physical challenges including stunted growth, delayed puberty, weakened immunity and increased risk of chronic diseases, vision and hearing impairments,” Dr. Yazeed Mansour Alkhawaldeh, a former health specialist at Medecins Sans Frontieres, told Arab News.

“Such circumstances can impact children’s cognitive and emotional development as well, resulting in a lower IQ and poor academic performance. They are also more prone to develop anxiety, depression and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder.”

 


Future looks dire for UN Palestinian refugee agency, says UNRWA chief

Palestinian boy sits beside an aid box provided by UNRWA outside a distribution point in Khan Younis. (Reuters)
Palestinian boy sits beside an aid box provided by UNRWA outside a distribution point in Khan Younis. (Reuters)
Updated 53 min 6 sec ago
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Future looks dire for UN Palestinian refugee agency, says UNRWA chief

Palestinian boy sits beside an aid box provided by UNRWA outside a distribution point in Khan Younis. (Reuters)
  • Even in East Jerusalem, Lazzarini said, health care and other services provided by UNRWA “are continuing, though not necessarily at the same scope it used to be”

BEIRUT: The head of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees said Thursday that while an Israeli ban has not yet forced the agency to cease operations, it faces an “existential threat” in the long run.
“I have been very clear that despite all the obstacles and the pressure the agency is under, our objective is to stay and deliver until we are prevented to do so,” Philippe Lazzarini, commissioner general of the UN Relief and Works Agency, also known as UNRWA, said in an interview with The Associated Press during a visit to Beirut.
Israel last week formally banned UNRWA from operating on its territory. As a result, Lazzarini said, international staff have had to leave East Jerusalem because their visas expired, but in Gaza and the West Bank there has been no immediate impact on operations.
Even in East Jerusalem, he said, health care and other services provided by UNRWA “are continuing, though not necessarily at the same scope it used to be.”
UNRWA is also likely to face increased pressure from the United States under the new Trump administration.
US President Donald Trump in recent days proposed permanently resettling the approximately 2 million Palestinians in Gaza in neighboring Arab countries and suggested the United States taking long-term control of Gaza.
Lazzarini called the proposal “totally unrealistic,” adding, “We are talking about forced displacement. Forced displacement is a crime, an international crime. It’s ethnic cleansing.”
Trump announced Tuesday that Washington will not resume funding for UNRWA — which had already been halted since January 2024 when the Biden administration stopped it following accusations by Israel that UNRWA staffers in Gaza took part in the Oct. 7, 2023 Hamas-led attack on southern Israel that sparked the war in Gaza.
Israel had alleged that 19 out of UNRWA’s approximately 13,000 staff in Gaza took part in the attack. UNRWA said it fired nine staffers after an internal UN investigation found evidence that they could have been involved.
While several other donor countries also suspended funding at the time, all but the US decided to resume funding.
Lazzarini called the loss of US support “a challenge,” but said the agency is appealing to Gulf Arab countries and other donors to increase their contributions. He described his agency as the target of a “massive disinformation campaign” with a politically motivated objective of dismantling it.
UNRWA’s opponents believe the agency has prolonged the Israeli-Palestinian conflict by giving refugee status to the descendants of Palestinian refugees who fled or were forced from their homes in what is now Israel in 1948, thus maintaining for them, in theory, the right of return.
Lazzarini said those who think that UNRWA can simply be dissolved and its responsibilities handed over to other institutions are mistaken.
UNRWA provides aid and services — including health and education — to some 2.5 million Palestinian refugees in Gaza and the occupied West Bank and east Jerusalem, as well as 3 million more in Syria, Jordan and Lebanon. Since the Israel-Hamas war began in October 2023, it has been the main lifeline for a population reliant on humanitarian aid in Gaza.
Lazzarini said that while replaceable by a functioning public institution, UNRWA provides essential public services that no other UN agency offers on such a scale. It has served as a “substitute in the absence of the state for the Palestinian refugees,” he said. He argued that the only way to end the agency’s mandate is as part of a political process resulting in a Palestinian state alongside Israel, so that “at the end of this process, the agency can hand over its services to an empowered Palestinian institution.”
The alternative, he said, is to “let the agency implode and abruptly end its activities, which would mean additional suffering for one of the most destitute populations in the region.”


Lebanese government formation stalls over minister selection

Lebanese government formation stalls over minister selection
Updated 06 February 2025
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Lebanese government formation stalls over minister selection

Lebanese government formation stalls over minister selection
  • Nabih Berri rejected the name of the fifth minister, which was proposed by Nawaf Salam in consultation with Joseph Aoun
  • Parallel to the government formation process, the fate of the Israeli withdrawal from the southern border area remains a source of Lebanese concern

BEIRUT: Lebanese leaders were close to reaching a new government lineup on Thursday, three weeks after the designation of Nawaf Salam to form the Cabinet.

However, last-minute changes occurred after parliament speaker Nabih Berri rejected the name of the fifth minister, which was proposed by Salam in consultation with President Joseph Aoun, stalling the formation process.

A political source following the formation process told Arab News that “things didn’t reach a deadlock," adding that “there’s an understanding of the importance to reach a governmental lineup as soon as possible, and under this understanding, the name of the fifth Shiite minister is being reconsidered.”

The government, he said, might be announced in the coming two days.

Aoun received Salam and Berri at the presidential palace. Mahmoud Makieh, secretary-general of the council of ministers, was subsequently summoned, signaling that the governmental lineup was ready to be announced by Makieh.

However, Berri left the presidential palace two hours after the meeting, followed by Salam.

According to information circulating at the palace, the selection of the fifth Shiite minister remains the root cause of the problem.

Aoun and Salam insist on naming the fifth Shiite minister in the government in lieu of Hezbollah and the Amal Movement.

That is because they want to avoid repeating former premier Saad Hariri’s experience, whose government lost its legitimacy and collapsed in 2011 following the resignation of 11 Shiite ministers.

According to the political source, Salam insists on appointing Lamia Moubayed, who previously held the position of head of the Basil Fuleihan Institute of Finance, for the Administrative Development portfolio, a choice that Berri rejected.

The source said that the president was handling the issue, especially since Berri insists on having a say in naming the fifth Shiite minister, after having already proposed the names of the other four ministers in coordination with Hezbollah — figures close to them but not affiliated with any party.

On Wednesday night, after meeting Aoun, Salam reaffirmed his commitment to “forming a government with a high level of harmony among its members, committed to the principle of ministerial solidarity, and this applies to all ministers without exception.”

Salam emphasized his efforts to “form a reformist government composed of highly competent individuals, and I will not allow any element within it that could obstruct its work in any way.”

He stressed that “in the process of forming previous governments, there were inherited customs and narrow calculations that some find difficult to abandon or to accept a new approach in dealing with.

“However, I am determined to confront these practices and adhere to the constitution and the standards I have previously announced — excluding parliamentary candidates from joining the government and preventing the appointment of partisan figures.

“These standards provide an additional guarantee for the independence of the government's work, the integrity and neutrality of the upcoming elections, addressing the major challenges ahead, and laying the groundwork for reforms to rebuild the Lebanese state in a manner befitting its citizens.”

If formed, Salam’s government is expected to consist of 24 ministers, most of whom will be technocrats, according to leaked names.

Parallel to the government formation process, the fate of the Israeli withdrawal from the southern border area remains a source of Lebanese concern.

Aoun emphasized to the chief of staff of the UN Truce Supervision Organization, Maj. Gen. Patrick Gauchat, whom he met on Thursday, the necessity of “implementing Resolution 1701, ensuring the full withdrawal of Israeli forces from the territories occupied in the recent war, and releasing Lebanese prisoners.”

On Thursday, Israeli forces continued to demolish the remaining houses in the southern town of Kafr Kila.

The Israeli army issued a new warning to the residents in the border area that had not yet been evacuated, advising them not to move south.

Avichai Adraee, spokesperson for the Israeli military, said: “The Israeli army remains deployed in the field. Therefore, you are prohibited from returning to your homes in the areas in question until further notice. Anyone attempting to move south is at risk.”

On the Lebanese Syrian border, tensions escalated between the new Syrian administration and Lebanese tribal groups involved in smuggling through illegal crossings in Hawik — a town straddling both Lebanese and Syrian territories and populated by Lebanese-origin residents with Syrian citizenship. The Syrian administration is working to secure the border and close these crossings following recent rocket and artillery clashes.

A Lebanese security source reported that “two members of the Syrian administration were killed, and two others were captured.” Video footage circulated online showed the captives being beaten and bleeding.

Shells also struck the Lebanese border town of Al-Qasr, injuring a Lebanese soldier.

According to security reports, Syrian administration forces entered the town two hours later and deployed reinforcements to maintain control of the border.

Many residents of Lebanese origin fled the town toward Lebanese territory in the aftermath.

About 150,000 Syrians, mostly Shiites and Alawites, fled to the Baalbek-Hermel region following the fall of Bashar Assad’s regime in Syria.


Aga Khan IV to be buried in Egypt on Sunday

Aga Khan IV to be buried in Egypt on Sunday
Updated 06 February 2025
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Aga Khan IV to be buried in Egypt on Sunday

Aga Khan IV to be buried in Egypt on Sunday
  • Aga Khan IV will be laid to rest at a private burial ceremony in Aswan, Egypt on Sunday
  • His son, Prince Rahim Al-Hussaini was named the 50th hereditary Imam

LISBON: The late Prince Karim Al-Hussaini Aga Khan IV, who died on Tuesday in Lisbon after nearly seven decades as the spiritual leader of the global Ismaili Muslim community, will be buried in Egypt on Sunday, according to the Ismaili Imamat.
After a funeral ceremony at the Ismaili Center in the Portuguese capital on Saturday — to be attended by leaders of the community, Portuguese government members and foreign dignitaries — Aga Khan IV will be laid to rest at a private burial ceremony in Aswan, Egypt on Sunday, it said in a statement on Thursday.
Known for his wealth and development work around the world through the Aga Khan Development Network, Prince Karim died in Lisbon, the seat of the Ismaili Imamat, at age 88 on Tuesday.
His son, Prince Rahim Al-Hussaini was named the 50th hereditary Imam, or spiritual leader, on Wednesday, according to his father’s will.
As Aga Khan — derived from Turkish and Persian words to mean commanding chief — he is believed by Ismailis to be a direct descendant of the Prophet Muhammad through the prophet’s cousin and son-in-law, Ali, the first Imam, and his wife Fatima, the Prophet’s daughter.
The world’s Ismaili community, a branch of Shiite Islam, comprises around 15 million people who live in Central Asia, the Middle East, South Asia, sub-Saharan Africa, Europe and North America.
Set up in 1967, the AKDN group of international development agencies employs 80,000 people helping to build schools and hospitals and providing electricity for millions of people in the poorest parts of Africa and Asia.
Aga Khan IV also kept up his family’s long tradition of thoroughbred racing and breeding. His stables and riders, wearing his emerald-green silk livery, enjoyed great successes at the top international derbies.


Bahraini king arrives in UAE

Bahraini king arrives in UAE
Updated 06 February 2025
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Bahraini king arrives in UAE

Bahraini king arrives in UAE

LONDON: King Hamad bin Isa Al-Khalifa of Bahrain arrived in the UAE on Thursday.

Sheikh Hamdan bin Zayed Al-Nahyan, the ruler’s representative in the Al-Dhafra region, received the king on his arrival.

During his visit to the UAE, King Hamad will be accompanied by Sheikh Nasser bin Hamad Al-Khalifa and Sheikh Khalid bin Hamad Al-Khalifa, among other senior officials, the Bahrain News Agency reported.


Palestinian PM meets Arab League’s chief in Cairo

Palestinian PM meets Arab League’s chief in Cairo
Updated 06 February 2025
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Palestinian PM meets Arab League’s chief in Cairo

Palestinian PM meets Arab League’s chief in Cairo
  • Mohammad Mustafa says priority is to back Palestinians’ right to remain in Gaza

LONDON: Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammad Mustafa said during his visit to Egypt on Thursday that the Palestinian Authority was coordinating with Arab countries to address the urgent reconstruction of the Gaza Strip.

Mustafa met Ahmed Aboul Gheit, the secretary-general of the Arab League, at the organization’s headquarters in Cairo. The parties discussed ongoing humanitarian efforts to assist residents of the Gaza Strip.

Mustafa said that Palestinians in Gaza were experiencing “a difficult period” following US President Donald Trump’s remarks about relocating them to other countries, including Jordan and Egypt, both of which had rejected the idea.

He commended the Arab League’s support and said that the PA had already set in motion actions for rebuilding the Gaza Strip. Israel has bombed the region into rubble since late 2023, killing about 47,000 Palestinians.

Mustafa added that Gaza was part of Palestinian territory and emphasized that PA’s priority was to support Palestinians in the area to remain in the enclave.

He said: “We want to assure our people in the Gaza Strip that we will not leave them in this situation, and the coming days will be better.”

The meeting was attended by Maj. Gen. Ziad Hab Al-Rih, Palestine’s minister of interior; Palestine’s Ambassador to the Arab League Muhannad Al-Aklouk; The Arab League’s Assistant Secretary-General for Palestine Ambassador Saeed Abu Ali; and Ambassador Hossam Zaki, the assistant secretary-general of the Arab League.