Northern Gaza in 'full-blown' famine: Senior UN official
Northern Gaza is experiencing "fullblown" famine, according to the UN World Food Programme (WFP) Direc‐ tor Cindy McCain.
"Whenever you have conflicts like this, and emotions rage high, and things happen in a war, famine hap‐ pens," she said during an interview with NBC aired on Saturday.
"What I can explain to you is - is that there is famine - full-blown fam‐ ine - in the north."
McCain warned mass starvation was "moving its way south", where the vast majority of Gaza's population has fled fighting between Israel and Hamas.
The UN has claimed since midMarch that northern Gaza is "nearing" a state of famine, though the organi‐ sation has not yet officially stated one had begun.
Human Rights Watch recently re‐ ported that children were dying from starvation-related complications in Gaza, claiming Israel was using star‐ vation as a "weapon of war" - a war crime under international law.
EU foreign policy chief Josep Bor‐ rell also said in March that Israel was "provoking famine" as a weapon of war.
Israeli officials have rejected these accusations.
WFP Director McCain pointed to severe food shortages and food inse‐ curity in northern Gaza, saying the people needed "water, sanitation, medicine."
She said the WFP had seen “real horror" on the ground, which was "very difficult to look at or hear".
The senior UN official called for a ceasefire as a way of feeding people "in a much faster fashion."
Contestation over the cause of food insecurity
Israel has been repeatedly accused of blocking or obstructing aid deliveries to northern Gaza, though humanitari‐ an organisations have said the num‐ ber of lorries being let in has in‐ creased since May.
Aid convoys carrying vital have al‐ so reportedly been fired upon by Is‐ raeli forces, while others have been looted by desperate crowds and crim‐ inal gangs.
World Central Kitchen, a US-based nonprofit group, resumed operations on Monday a er seven of its aid work‐ ers were killed by an Israeli airstrike in April. It has distributed over 43 mil‐ lion meals across Gaza.
Israel has denied such claims. It instead blamed the UN and other in‐ ternational organisations for logisti‐ cal problems and delays.
On Wednesday, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken urged Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to let more aid into Gaza, amid claims by international organisations only a fraction of the aid needed was getting in.
UN Secretary-General António Guterres said earlier this week there had been incremental progress to‐ ward averting “an entirely pre‐ ventable, human-made famine” in the northern Gaza Strip.
He urged the international com‐ munity to “do everything possible" to avert a crisis.