HAMILTON, Canada
The humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip is far more dire than expected, with widespread destruction and severe shortages, the UN relief chief said Wednesday.
Commenting on his visit to the enclave, Tom Fletcher told reporters at a news conference that "it was much, much worse than I'd anticipated. And I'd really prepared myself for the worst."
He described "miles and miles" of rubble, with people struggling to navigate their destroyed neighborhoods.
"You couldn't see what was a school or what was a hospital, what was a home," he said. "One of the first shocking things I saw driving in was the dogs going through the rubble. And I said to my colleague, 'Why are the dogs so fat?' And he said, 'Well because the dogs are looking for corpses.'"
Fletcher said every person he met was "deeply traumatized" by the devastation, including UN staff who lost homes and families.
He raised concerns about conditions in the occupied West Bank, where he observed forced displacement and rapidly changing facts on the ground. He warned of serious consequences for the future of a two-state solution.
On funding challenges, Fletcher said global humanitarian efforts are facing an unprecedented crisis.
About "300 million plus people right now need humanitarian support, and so the pace and the scale of the funding cuts that we've faced are, of course, a seismic shock to the sector," he said. "Many will die because that aid is drying up."
He acknowledged that UN programs had been particularly affected by funding cuts by US President Donald Trump. The US previously funded nearly half of the UN humanitarian appeals.
"We have been reliant in recent years, over-reliant on US funding," he said, emphasizing the need to rebuild support.
Addressing claims that Israeli hostages were held in UN facilities in Gaza, Fletcher dismissed any involvement from the organization.
"I've not seen a shred of evidence so far --and I've asked for it -- that suggests there was any UN acquiescence or involvement in using UN buildings or UN staff being involved in holding those hostages," he said.