Gaza: The United Nations’ humanitarian chief, Tom Fletcher, has issued a stark warning about the catastrophic humanitarian situation in Gaza, where up to 14,000 babies could die within the next 48 hours if urgently needed aid does not reach them.
Speaking to BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, Fletcher described the minimal aid currently allowed into Gaza as a “drop in the ocean” compared to what is desperately needed. Despite Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s recent announcement to slightly ease the 11-week aid blockade to prevent a starvation crisis, only five aid trucks entered Gaza yesterday — a fraction of the supplies required for the enclave’s population of over 2.3 million.
Fletcher explained that although the aid trucks are technically inside Gaza, their contents, which include vital baby food and nutrition, have yet to reach civilians, remaining stalled just across the border.
“We want to save as many of these 14,000 babies as we can in the next 48 hours,” Fletcher said. He added that UN teams on the ground — many of whom have been killed — continue to assess the desperate needs at medical centres and schools despite the dire conditions.
The UN’s grim forecast highlights the urgent need for a substantial and sustained increase in humanitarian access to Gaza, where thousands more lives are at risk amid severe shortages of food, medicine, and clean water.
Images of children being fed at community kitchens, like those in Khan Younis in southern Gaza, underscore the precarious situation faced by the most vulnerable in the besieged territory.
