‘Slow Motion Massacre’: Ex-UNWRA Spox Says Donor Countries’ Defund Fired ‘Starting Gun’ For Mass Starvation In Gaza
Former spokesperson for the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNWRA) Chris Gunness blasted countries that suspended donations to the humanitarian aid organisation on the basis of Israeli claims that workers were affiliated with Hamas, accusing them of “firing the starting gun” for a “slow motion massacre” of Gazans.
Gunness, a former BBC correspondent and now director of the Myanmar Accountability Project, was interviewed on BBC News Wednesday about Israel’s claims that UNWRA workers took part in the Hamas’ attacks on Oct 7.
“Can I just say that we shouldn’t buy into the guilty narrative. There must be no presumption of guilt,” Gunness said. “Although the New York Times splashed this story across its front pages, Sky News, the Financial Times, and others, Channel 4, for example, have made very clear that there is no evidence in this dossier.”
The only public case for Israel’s allegations, that UNWRA staff were complicit in the Hamas attacks, was made in a six-page intelligence document that, as Gunness said, multiple news organisations have argued stops short of providing concrete proof.
Nevertheless, following Israel’s accusations, multiple countries, including the United States, Australia, Canada, Germany and the UK, cut funding with immediate effect in a move UNWRA said risks totally collapsing its humanitarian aid mission in Gaza and pushing millions of displaced Palestianians dependent on food aid to the brink of starvation.
Gunness continued: “As far as what UNRWA does, in Gaza itself, it has 13,000 staff who are in the most appalling situation, risking their lives – 156, I think, the latest count, of UNRWA staff that have been killed, and there are probably more, sadly, underneath the rubble. [There were] 1.2 million people before the war were on UNRWA’s food distribution list. That has undoubtedly swelled enormously.”
Gunness was blunt in his criticism of the abrupt donor funding cut and its deadly impact: “I see [it] as illegal. It’s a violation of international law. It’s a violation of the interim provisional rulings by the International Court of Justice.”
He continued: “As a direct result of that, it’s likely that thousands, hundreds of thousands of people will starve. Starvation is a massacre in slow motion and what these donors have done is fired the starting gun on a slow motion massacre. Let’s make no mistake, that is the significance of what this donor defund means.”
