Israel's war in Gaza has caused famine at “such incredible speed,” the United Nations aid chief told CNN on Monday, as he warned that hundreds of thousands of Palestinians are starving in the besieged enclave.
The “vast majority” of the 400,000 Gazans characterized by U.N. agencies as at risk of starvation “are actually in famine, not just at risk of famine,” the U.N. Under-Secretary-General for Foreign Affairs said. Humanitarian and Emergency Relief Coordinator to CNN's Christiane Amanpour.
“This has been an extraordinary and unwelcome aspect of the Gaza war,” he said. “It has brought famine to the front lines with incredible speed.”
Aid has been slowly arriving into Gaza from two border crossings in the south.
Last week, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said Israel had denied critical supplies from entering northern Gaza. But Israel has accused the UN agency for Palestinian refugees of not doing enough and “stalling” progress.
Griffiths told CNN on Monday that working to provide humanitarian aid to 300,000 Gazans who remain in the northern strip remains a challenge.
“If you can't trust that the access routes of people in need are not in conflict, if you can't trust that hospitals will not be attacked… if you can't trust that people have to move from one place to another, place of insecurity to another place of insecurity, these are the issues that make humanitarian aid deliveries difficult,” he stated. “It's not about the number of trucks that can come in.”
More than 24,000 people have been killed in Gaza and more than 60,000 injured since October 7, the Hamas-run Health Ministry said on Monday. Meanwhile, nearly 90% of Gaza's pre-war population has been displaced, according to the UN.
Griffiths warned on Monday that the dire humanitarian situation in the enclave could create “generational hatred.”
“We care as much about the security of Israel as we do about the security of Gaza,” he said.
