Geneva, MINA – The United Nations’ top humanitarian official said Friday that the famine in Gaza was a “predictable and preventable” catastrophe, deliberately fueled by Israeli obstruction of aid.
Tom Fletcher, head of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), told reporters in Geneva that food is “stacked up at borders” while people starve just meters away.
“This is a 21st-century famine watched over by drones and the most advanced military technology in history,” Fletcher said. “It is a famine openly promoted by some Israeli leaders as a weapon of war… the Gaza famine is the world’s famine.”
He urged for an immediate ceasefire and unimpeded access for humanitarian supplies: “Open the crossings, north and south. Let us get food and other supplies in at the massive scale required. End the retribution.”
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Fletcher’s statement came after the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) confirmed famine in the Gaza Governorate, with projections that it will spread to Deir al-Balah and Khan Younis within weeks. []
Mi’raj News Agency (MINA)
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