Lazzarini: ‘Constructed, Deliberate Mass Starvation’

From Philippe Lazzarini, the UNRWA Commissioner-General as posted on his official X account (previously known as Twitter) 

Download UNRWA multimedia resources on malnutrition in children here

A constructed and deliberate mass starvation. Today, more children died, their bodies emaciated by hunger.

The flawed distribution system (GHF) is not designed to address the humanitarian crisis.

It’s serving military and political objectives. It’s cruel as it takes more lives than it saves lives.

Israel controls all aspects of humanitarian access, whether outside or within Gaza.

Airdrops are the most expensive and inefficient way to deliver aid. It is a distraction to the inaction.

When bureaucratic and political hurdles are lifted, the humanitarian community has demonstrated it can deliver assistance at scale, in a dignified way, without diversion.

During the ceasefire fire in earlier this year, we succeeded to reverse the deepening hunger.

Today, UNRWA alone has the equivalent of 6,000 trucks of food and medical assistance stuck in Egypt and Jordan.

The unfolding famine can only be reversed by a political will.

Make “never again” a reality.

If we fail the Palestinians in Gaza, others are likely to be failed too in the future.

Let’s not set a dangerous and irreversible precedent.

Reliefweb

  • CrossFireArabia

    CrossFireArabia

    Dr. Marwan Asmar holds a PhD from Leeds University and is a freelance writer specializing on the Middle East. He has worked as a journalist since the early 1990s in Jordan and the Gulf countries, and been widely published, including at Albawaba, Gulf News, Al Ghad, World Press Review and others.

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