Soaring oil prices and the blockade are preventing food, fuel and medicine being delivered to millions of people in desperate need, say NGOs
The volatility of global oil prices caused by the US and Israel’s war on Iran is taking a toll on the most vulnerable people, by slowing or blocking food and medical aid from reaching them.
Now aid organisations are calling for a “humanitarian corridor” to be opened through the strait of Hormuz amid rocketing transportation costs.
Bob Kitchen, vice president for emergencies at the International Rescue Committee (IRC) called for “serious and immediate conversations about humanitarian corridors through the strait of Hormuz so, at the very least, we can get supplies that are currently stuck in humanitarian hubs through the strait to resupply.”
Vital medicines are not making it out of key hubs. Shipping disruptions prevented the IRC accessing $130,000 (£96,000) of supplies stuck in Dubai that are needed by 20,000 people in Sudan. In Nigeria and Ethiopia, government oil rations meant the emergency relief body was having to limit generator use in its health clinics. “In certain parts of hospitals, we’ll have to close off the electricity to keep more important things running [if this continues],” said Kitchen.
