Israel’s war on Gaza has brought famine “with incredible speed,” a UN aid official told CNN on Monday, warning that hundreds of thousands of Palestinians are starving in the blockaded enclave.
UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator Martin Griffiths told CNN’s Christiane Amanpour that the “vast majority” of Gaza’s 400,000 residents described by UN agencies as being at risk of famine “are actually in famine.” “And not only are they at risk of starvation.” .
“It was an exceptional and unwelcome aspect of the Gaza war,” he said. “Famine has been brought with such astonishing speed to the front of the lines.”
Aid is slowly flowing into Gaza from two border crossings in the south.
Last week, the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said that Israel had prevented vital supplies from entering northern Gaza. But Israel accused the UN’s Palestinian refugee agency of not doing enough and “obstructing” progress.
Griffiths told CNN on Monday that working to provide humanitarian aid to about 300,000 Gazans who remain in the northern Strip remains a challenge.
“If you can’t count on people in need not having their access routes conflicted, if you can’t count on hospitals not being attacked… if you can’t count on people having to move from one insecure place to another insecure place “These are the issues that lead to the delivery of humanitarian aid,” he said. “It’s not about the number of trucks that can get in.”
The Hamas-run Health Ministry said on Monday that more than 24,000 people have been killed in Gaza and more than 60,000 others have been injured since October 7. Meanwhile, nearly 90% of Gaza’s population was displaced before the war, according to the United Nations.
Griffiths warned on Monday that the dire humanitarian situation in the Strip could create “intergenerational hatred.”
He said: “We are as concerned about the security of Israel as we are about the security of Gaza.”
