Aid system endures in Gaza, Lebanon despite ‘shocks’ of recent years, UN humanitarian chief says
NEW YORK CITY: The UN’s humanitarian chief, Tom Fletcher on Wednesday rejected any characterization of the humanitarian crisis in Gaza as the “dismantling” of the UN aid system.
Despite enormous damage to aid operations there and in Lebanon, he said, the system “has taken the shocks to it and continues to operate.”
Responding to a question from Arab News about whether the experience of the past three-to-four years in Gaza and Lebanon amounted to an effective dismantling of the organization’s humanitarian architecture, Fletcher acknowledged “a very, very rough few years for our work.”
However, he stressed that the UN had made “real inroads” on hunger in Gaza, delivering more than a million hot meals a day since the US-led 20-point peace plan for the territory took effect in October last year.
