As he issued a warning of starvation in the beleaguered enclave, UN humanitarian head Martin Griffiths said on Sunday that the blockade of aid reaching Gaza threatens a “apocalyptic” conclusion.
“If fuel runs out, aid doesn’t get to the people where they need it, that famine, which we have talked about for so long, and which is looming, will not be looming anymore. It will be present,” Griffiths said.
“And I think our worry, as citizens of the international community, is that the consequence is going to be really, really hard. Hard, difficult, and apocalyptic,” he told AFP on the sidelines of meetings with Qatari officials in Doha.
An already dangerous humanitarian catastrophe in the Gaza Strip has worsened as a result of an Israeli assault into the southern Gaza city of Rafah, which was carried out in response to worldwide criticism.
The UN’s Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator, Griffith, stated that the hardest-hit areas north of Gaza might receive up to 50 trucks of aid per day via the restored Erez crossing.
But he clarified that the crucial routes were “effectively blocked” due to fighting near the Rafah and Kerem Shalom borders in the southern part of Gaza.
“So aid getting in through land routes to the south and for Rafah, and the people dislodged by Rafah is almost nil,” Griffiths added.
