Daily Brief · every morning, by email

The Gulf war has emptied the world's most important oil and food waterway

The Strait of Hormuz is nearly closed to shipping. Only 3.3 ships a day passed through in the week of 19 to 25 October 2026 (IMF PortWatch), down 97 percent from 102 a day in the same week of 2025. The Iran-US-Israel war, now in its ninth month, is the cause. In Yemen, the civil war is escalating: 5,436 deaths in organised violence in the twelve months to 30 September 2026 (UCDP), and OCHA reports fresh displacement across the country through late October. In DR Congo, more than 5,000 people have died in the deadliest Ebola outbreak on record (BBC, 31 Oct 2026).

Gulf shipping matters because food and fuel for East Africa and Yemen normally move through these waters. Aid agencies feeding Yemen, Somalia and Ethiopia should plan for higher transport costs and slower deliveries through the remaining routes around the Cape. The war also deepens drought: across the Horn and the Sahel, thirteen African countries remain in drought (GDACS, 29 Oct 2026). Country teams in East Africa should pre-position food stocks and confirm alternative supply corridors before year-end, while health agencies in DR Congo scale up Ebola response alongside 30 million people facing hunger.

Watch items

• India — Tropical storm Four threatens 2.7 million people, landfall forecast
• Yemen — Escalating civil war drives further displacement and hunger
• DR Congo — Deadliest Ebola outbreak spreading amid eastern fighting