Almost 2000 people have been killed and a million households displaced in Iran so far as a result of the US and Israel’s strikes, according to aid agencies.

And the wider conflict in the Middle East has seen 850 people killed in Lebanon, including 90 children, as well as almost a million displaced. About 125,000 people have crossed from Lebanon into Syria.

Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam has warned of a humanitarian disaster as Israel continues its strikes on the country.

CC BY-SA 2.0 – William John Gauthier

Up to 20,000 people have been displaced in Iran’s borders with Afghanistan and Pakistan and six people have been killed in Gaza.

Iran, meanwhile, has retaliated across the Gulf, targeting the UAE, Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, and Oman with drone and missile attacks. Two Iranian drones also struck Azerbaijan, including an airport.

Iran has effectively closed the Strait of Hormuz, through which a fifth of world’s crude oil passes. Experts say prolonged disruption will cause global energy costs to soar.

Observers and aid agencies say an escalation of bombings and military strikes inside Iran may be fuelling a new international refugee crisis that could ripple across the Middle East and into Europe.

As electricity fails, cities see forced evacuations, and security deteriorates, millions of people living in Iran – including refugees already displaced by earlier conflicts – are considering fleeing.

Iran is already one of the world’s largest hosts of refugees and home to roughly 3.8 million Afghan refugees and migrants, including about 750,000 registered refugees and more than 2.6 million undocumented Afghans who have fled decades of conflict in Afghanistan.

Many Afghans have lived in the country for decades but remain without permanent legal status. In recent years, economic pressures and political tensions have led to stricter migration policies and increased deportations.

The UN refugee agency UNHCR says the military escalation in the Middle East, which has claimed civilian lives, damaged and destroyed vital infrastructure and forced hundreds of thousands of people to flee their homes, requires an immediate response across the region.

But global humanitarian funding has been slashed in recent years, largely due to the US’ exist from long standing program.

Even prior to the recent escalation, nearly 25 million people in the affected countries were refugees, internally displaced, or refugees who recently returned home to very difficult conditions, UNHCR says.

The agency says it is “deeply worried” for the safety of civilians and refugees.

It says initial estimates from the authorities of 100,000 people leaving Tehran in the first two days of the crisis have now been surpassed.

“The country is home to 1.65 million people forced to flee, mostly from Afghanistan, and an overwhelming number are seeking help and support,” UNHCR said.

“Amid ongoing strikes and communications outages, it is a perilous environment for civilians and humanitarians, but UNHCR remains on the ground. Our reception centres and helplines remain open, and we are receiving over 250 calls per day from refugees.”

In Lebanon, families are leaving their homes with limited belongings and seeking safer areas, including parts of Mount Lebanon, Beirut, northern districts, and parts of the Bekaa.

In just four days in Lebanon, UNHCR delivered over 65,000 relief items to 22,000 displaced people in government shelters, including mattresses, blankets, jerry cans, solar lamps and sleeping mats.

At least 33,600 Syrians and about 3,000 Lebanese have crossed into Syria, according to Syrian authorities.

They include Syrian refugees in Lebanon who had already decided to go home, as well as others who have fled the ongoing conflict.

Meanwhile, there are reports the conflict has caused internal displacement in Afghanistan and Pakistan with 15,000 and 3,000 displaced, respectively.

And Israeli settlers have ramped up violent attacks on Palestinians in the occupied West Bank. At least six Palestinians have been killed since the beginning of March – five by settlers and one by the Israeli military.

Israel said it opened a criminal investigation into the killings by settlers, but the Israeli government is pushing an unprecedented expansion of settlements and authority in the West Bank that aid agencies say could amount to de facto annexation.

In Gaza, the Israeli military has carried out strikes, killing six Palestinians – including two women and a girl The Israeli military claimed the attack killed two Hamas members.

With most crossings into Gaza still closed by Israel since the beginning of the Iran war, food prices have skyrocketed, and medical supplies are running critically low.