KEY POINTS
- UN humanitarian chief condemned “impunity” over the Gaza crisis, calling it a “21st-century atrocity.”
- Fletcher said a child has been killed on average every hour for nearly two years, with over 700,000 deprived of education.
- Israel’s air and ground offensive on Gaza City has worsened dire humanitarian conditions, forcing mass displacement.
- A UN probe has accused Israel of committing “genocide,” charges Israel dismissed as “distorted and false.”
UNITED NATIONS: UN humanitarian chief Tom Fletcher on Wednesday slammed impunity in the face of the “horror” unfolding in Gaza, calling on those with power to stop the “21st-century atrocity” as Israel’s offensive deepens the humanitarian crisis in the besieged territory.
In recent weeks Israel has launched a major air and ground offensive on Gaza City, exacerbating already dire humanitarian conditions in the besieged Palestinian territory.
“So we gather once again to share our testimony and our shame, to try to find words to convey the horror… to repeat that something must be done and, I fear, to accept that nothing will,” Fletcher said at an event organized by Jordan and Belgium on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly.
“A child has been killed on average every hour for almost two years in Gaza, the lucky children sleep in tents” while schools “have become sites of horror, depriving over 700,000 children of their right to education,” he said.
Children have suffered a particularly acute toll in Gaza since Israel launched its bombardment campaign on October 7, 2023.
“We are told again and again that this is a price a population somehow has to pay for war,” Fletcher said.
“Lawyers and historians will argue long and hard what to call this, and despite bans on international journalists, they will have immense amounts of evidence to consider justice.”
But until then “our words will not reach… those scraping through the rubble for food (or) enduring amputations without anesthetic.”
“I fear that we will gather again to solemnly intone the death toll, to try to find new words to express the horror, to call again for action, but how many more must die, and what further damage will we have done to our shared humanity?” Fletcher added.
The US-backed Israeli offensive has forced hundreds of thousands of people to flee Gaza City, the territory’s largest urban center.
The offensive came as a United Nations probe accused Israel of committing “genocide” in Gaza.
Israel has rejected the findings, saying the probe was “distorted and false.”
Large parts of Gaza have been laid to waste, and last month a body backed by the United Nations officially declared famine in part of the Palestinian territory.
After nearly two years of war, Israeli military operations have killed at least 65,419 Palestinians, mostly civilians, according to the health ministry in Gaza, figures the UN considers reliable.
