The UN and the crisis in the Middle East: What you need to know

What you need to know about the United Nations response to the conflict in the Middle East.

29 March

  • Statement by the UN Special Envoy for Yemen on recent developments [EN/AR] – Yemen (OSESGY)

28 March

Middle East war: UN initiatives support mediation efforts, ‘lifesaving’ fertiliser shipments

© NASA/GSFC/Jacques Descloitres Satellite image of the Strait of Hormuz.
© NASA/GSFC/Jacques Descloitres Satellite image of the Strait of Hormuz.

Just hours after war broke out in the Middle East last month, United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres warned the Security Council that the fighting risked “igniting a chain of events that no one can control in the most volatile region of the world.” (UN News)

27 March

  • Press Briefing by UN Women on the situation for women and girls in Lebanon (UN Women)
  • Middle East war: Attacks on vital healthcare, evacuation strike fears (UN News)
  • Humanitarian crisis deepens across the region (UN News)
  • Syria: UN Commission documents grave violations in July 2025 escalation in Sweida (UN News)
  • WFP-led hub keeps humanitarian aid moving amid Middle East crisis (WFP)

26 March

  • FAO Chief Economist warns of severe global food security risks from disruption to Strait of Hormuz trade corridor (FAO)
  • Statement by the Country Team: UN and NGOs urge the Israeli authorities to stop forced evictions in East Jerusalem (OCHA)

25 March

  • The Crushing of a UN Agency Ushers in a Dark Era for Multilateralism (UNRWA)
  • Statement on reported discrepancy in a UNDP-coordinated shipment entering Gaza (UNDP)
  • Palestine: supporting journalists in times of crisis (UNESCO)
  • Statement during press encounter on the situation in the Middle East (OSSG)

24 March

  • Remarks by UNRWA Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini at the Geneva Graduate Institute: “The War in Gaza and the Future of UNRWA and the Rules-based Order” (UNRWA)
  • Middle East crisis deepens threat to millions of lives in Southern and Eastern Africa (OCHA)
  • Statement by Deputy Special Coordinator at Security Council Briefing (UNSCO)
  • Statement by Deputy High Commissioner Al-Nashif to the HR Council on Israeli settlements in the OPT and the occupied Syrian Golan (OHCHR)

23 March

  • Remarks by UNICEF Deputy Executive Director, Ted Chaiban, at the UN Secretary General Spokesperson’s noon briefing: Across the Middle East, a generation of children is being pulled deeper into crisis (UNICEF)
  • First shipment of Life-Saving Reproductive Health Supplies arrive in Lebanon in partnership with UNFPA and the European Union (UNFPA)

22 March

  • Annual Compilation of Selected United Nations Reports on the Question of Palestine 2025 Vol. VII (UN)

19 March

  • UNRWA Commissioner-General on the West Bank: Over 1,000 Palestinians Killed Since October 2023 (UNRWA)
  • Why the Middle East conflict threatens record levels of hunger (WFP)

The UN Charter remains humanity’s best hope for peace.

Amid geopolitical divisions, member countries must uphold it & ensure that the UN lives up to what it was meant to be:

A forum for solutions.

A guardian of international law.

And a force for peace and security.

António Guterres

Secretary-General of the United Nations (27 May 2026)

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