The UN humanitarian chief who previously made the now-debunked claim that 14,000 babies in Gaza would die within 48 hours has accused Israel of deliberately starving the Strip’s population.
Tom Fletcher, who leads the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA), claimed that aid was waiting on the enclave’s border but was not being allowed in, labelling it a “war crime”.
In an interview with the BBC’s Fergal Keane, he said: “We’re seeing food sat on the borders and not being allowed in, when there is a population on the other side of the border that is starving.
“We’re hearing Israeli ministers say that [this] is to put pressure on the population on Gaza.”
Israel has denied that it is causing starvation in Gaza, claiming that a sufficient quantity of aid has reached the Strip and that shortages are due to Hamas theft.
On May 18, Jerusalem said it would allow a "basic amount of food" to enter Gaza to make sure "no starvation crisis develops" after blockading the territory since 1 March.
However, asked by Keane if what he had described – using food as a weapon of war – constituted a war crime, Fletcher said: “Yes, it is classified as a war crime.”
Elsewhere, in the interview, the UN official said that he "really regretted" making the claim last week that 14,000 children could die in Gaza could die if the aid blockade was not eased in the subsequent 48 hours.
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