The United Nations’ humanitarian chief has defended using the term “genocide” to describe what aid workers are trying to prevent in Gaza, saying the world should not make the same mistakes seen in past violations of international law, when it wasn’t “called out soon enough.”
Tom Fletcher, in an interview with The Associated Press, said his forceful speech this week to the UN Security Council was meant to highlight what he views as the “eroding” of a rules-based order in Israel’s bombardment of Gaza and monthslong blockade of lifesaving aid. He also blasted a new U.S.-backed proposal to deliver aid to Palestinians amid the 19-month-long war as “dehumanizing.”
Fletcher is the first UN official to use the term “genocide” concerning Israel’s war in Gaza.
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