The head of the UN humanitarian affairs office (Ocha), Martin Griffiths, denounced on Saturday that “so little has been done” to end the war between Hamas and Israel in Gaza despite “global outrage” .
Almost six months of war. The head of the UN Office of Humanitarian Affairs (Ocha) Martin Griffiths demanded this Saturday, April 6, that “accounts be held for this betrayal of humanity” represented, according to him, by the war since October 7 between Israel and Hamas in Gaza.
This departing senior United Nations official also denounces the fact that, despite “global indignation”, “so little has been done to put an end to it, leaving room for such great impunity”.
“No one is safe”
“For the people of Gaza, the last six months of war have brought nothing but death, devastation and now the looming prospect of a shameful, man-made famine,” he wrote in a written statement from New York, on the eve of exactly six months of war.
Triggered on October 7 by an unprecedented bloody attack by Hamas in Israel, the Israeli military offensive has known no respite, causing more than 33,000 deaths so far according to the Palestinian Islamist movement’s Ministry of Health and causing a humanitarian disaster with the majority of the 2.4 million inhabitants threatened with famine according to the UN. On site, the Briton recalled on Saturday, “no one is safe, there is nowhere to go to protect yourself”.
Numerous calls for humanitarian aid
But, he said, “these six months of war must not only be a time of remembrance and mourning, it must also provoke a collective reaction so that accountability is held for this betrayal of humanity.”
Martin Griffiths, two weeks ago at the end of March, announced his resignation “for health reasons” from his post as Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and United Nations Emergency Relief Coordinator. He must remain in his post until June. In recent months, he has tirelessly increased calls to let humanitarian aid enter Gaza, denouncing the obstructions of the Israeli authorities.
