Heightened tension in Middle East would further worsen humanitarian catastrophe: UN refugee agency chief

ATHENS

Heightened tension in the Middle East following the assassinations of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh and senior Hezbollah commander Fouad Shukr by Israel would further worsen the humanitarian catastrophe, the chief of UN refugee agency warned on Wednesday.

“From all viewpoints, a further expansion of conflict in the Middle East is a catastrophe,” said UN High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi on X.

More specifically, he said, “From the humanitarian viewpoint it means more civilians killed, wounded, displaced.”

He warned that a decline in the funding would mean less support for those who are in need in region, and in world by large.

Hamas said on Wednesday that Haniyeh, the head of its political bureau, was killed in an Israeli airstrike in the Iranian capital of Tehran.

Hours earlier on Tuesday, the Israeli military struck southern Beirut to target senior Hezbollah commander Fouad Shukr in retaliation for an attack Saturday on the Druze town of Majdal Shams in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights.

Israel has killed nearly 40,000 Palestinians since a cross-border offensive by Hamas on Oct. 7. The military campaign has left most of the residents of the enclave of 2.3 million people hungry and homeless.