Thousands of People in Gaza Are Starving, UN Aid Chief: This Is Undesirable in War

Head of UN Aid Martin Griffiths. (Wikimedia Commons/UKinusA)

JAKARTA - The UN aid chief said the war in the Gaza Strip, Palestine had caused famine at an extraordinary speed, which was said to be undesirable and extraordinary in aspect.

"Most of the 400,000 Gazans who UN agencies say are at risk of starvation, are actually in famine, not just at risk of starvation," UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator Martin Griffiths told CNN, as quoted on January 16.

"This is an extraordinary and undesirable aspect of the Gaza war," he stressed.

Griffiths continued, these conditions had brought famine at extraordinary speed to the forefront.

Last week, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said Israel was denying vital supplies from entering northern Gaza. However, Israel accused the UN's Palestinian refugee agency of not doing enough and "holding back" progress.

Griffiths further said that efforts to provide humanitarian assistance to the 300,000 Gazans who are still in the northern region of the Gaza Strip continue to be a challenge.

"If you can't count on deconfliction of access points for people in need, if you can't count on hospitals not being attacked, if you can't count on people having to move from one unsafe place to another, that's the problem with delivering humanitarian aid," explained Griffiths.

"This is not about the number of trucks that can enter," he said.

Griffiths added that the dire humanitarian situation in the enclave could create "intergenerational hatred."

"We are as concerned about Israel's security as we are about Gaza's security," he said.