Exclusive People seeking food shouldn't be met with bullets': UN Relief Chief Tom Fletcher
The United Nations' top humanitarian official has highlighted the treatment of civilians in Gaza, saying those seeking food and aid should never be met with violence.
In the past two days alone, dozens of Palestinians have been killed by Israeli fire as they tried to get food from aid trucks brought into the enclave by the United Nations and international relief agencies, Gaza medics said.
On Thursday, medics said at least 40 people were killed by Israeli gunfire and military strikes, including 12 people who tried to approach a site operated by the US-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation in the central Gaza Strip, the latest in near-daily reports of killings of people seeking food.
'People should never be met with bullets when they're just seeking to feed their kids,' said Tom Fletcher, the UN's Under Secretary General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator.
In an interview on Al Arabiya English's GNT, presented by Tom Burges Watson, Fletcher spoke candidly about the scale of devastation he witnessed during a recent visit to Gaza and the urgent need to protect humanitarian workers and those they serve.
Fletcher also shared a stark visual description of the devastation in Gaza. He described what he saw on the ground as 'just desolation, massive destruction,' adding: 'You can't see what was a mosque, what was a school, what was a hospital, what a home.' He also said he witnessed 'dogs pulling corpses from the rubble.'
Beyond Gaza, Fletcher made an impassioned plea to the world's wealthiest and most powerful to take action.
'I think my message to the most powerful individuals, the wealthiest individuals on the planet, is that we can do this. I mean, what a legacy this is,' he said.
'Put down everything else you're doing and think about saving 100 million lives in the coming year. And we have the plans, we have the networks, we know how to do it.'
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