UN Relief Chief Says Gaza War Is Worst Humanitarian Crisis He’s Ever Seen

Martin Griffiths says it's worse than the Killing Fields in Cambodia

Martin Griffiths, the UN’s emergency relief coordinator, said in an interview on Tuesday that the Israeli onslaught in Gaza is the worst humanitarian crisis he’s ever seen, even worse than the Killing Fields in Cambodia, where the Khmer Rouge killed over one million people from 1975-1979.

When asked by CNN host Christiane Amanpour how he assesses the humanitarian situation in Gaza based on his experience, Griffiths said, “The worst ever, Christiane, and I don’t say that lightly. I mean, I started off in my 20s dealing with the Khmer Rouge. And you remember how bad that was, the Killing Fields and so forth. But 68% of the people killed in Gaza are women and children. They stopped counting the number of children killed after four and a half thousand had been counted.”

Griffiths continued, “Nobody goes to school in Gaza. Nobody knows what their future is. Hospitals have become places of war, not of curing. Now, I don’t think I’ve seen anything like this before. It’s complete and utter carnage.”

Amanpour raised the issue of US and Israeli officials questioning the death toll in Gaza, something she said she’s never seen before. “Why do you think the Israelis, the spokespeople, the government, people who speak on behalf of them, are so fixated on the fact that we shouldn’t believe these figures this time? I’ve never seen it before,” Amanpour said.

Griffiths said Israel is challenging the figures because they’re so horrific. The Israeli campaign has made it impossible for Gaza’s Health ministry to count the dead. Its most recent update was on November 10, which put the death toll over 11,000, including over 4,500 children. More recent estimates put the death toll over 14,000, but the number is not confirmed.

The UN has said 1.7 million Palestinians in Gaza have been displaced from their homes, about four in five people in the enclave. “You can understand why Israel would challenge these figures because they are so horrific, and they have led to such a global reaction. Gaza is a global crisis, as you know,” Griffiths said.

Author: Dave DeCamp

Dave DeCamp is the news editor of Antiwar.com, follow him on Twitter @decampdave.