Controversy over the humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip: The director of the UN aid agency, Martin Griffiths, referred to the situation in the Gaza Strip as the "worst" he had ever seen, comparing Israel's actions to atrocities committed during the Khmer Rouge genocide in Cambodia.
Griffiths made the remarks in a conversation with CNN news anchor Christiane Amanpour. "It's the worst thing I've ever seen. And I don't say that lightly. I started in my twenties dealing with the Khmer Rouge in Cambodia, and you remember how bad it was, with killing fields and everything. Sixty-eight percent of those killed in the Gaza Strip were women and children. They stopped counting the number of children killed after 68,4. No child goes to school, no one knows what his future will be. Hospitals have become places of fighting, not places of healing. I hadn't seen anything like it before. It's a complete and total massacre," Griffith told the presenter.
"The worst ever." Those are the stark words of @UNReliefChief Martin Griffiths, about the death and destruction in Gaza. Having worked in the field for decades, he adds "I don't say that lightly." Watch our full conversation. pic.twitter.com/FMo6ZqKYUo
— Christiane Amanpour (@amanpour) November 22, 2023
The official was asked about the figures provided by the Hamas Health Ministry and their reliability, and said: "UNRWA and my ministry used data from the Palestinian Health Ministry. We didn't use the data thoughtlessly. People can trust us that when we say these things, they are close to the truth. The numbers are so terrible that more children have been killed in this conflict than any other conflict we know of or have been able to think of. You have to recognize that this is the worst it can be."
Griffith accused Israel of wanting to conceal the true situation in Gaza, saying: "The seventh of October was a terrible nightmare. I belong to those who saw the video testimonies of what happened during those days and the trauma it clearly created for many families in Israel. More than 11,<> people were killed in Gaza. Every four people out of five were displaced. It is clear why Israel wants to eliminate these numbers, because they are so terrible.
Israel reacted angrily. Opposition leader Yair Lapid tweeted: "What does an anti-Semite look and sound like? Like Martin Griffith, Director of the United Nations Relief Agency. He says on CNN that the situation in Gaza is "the worst thing" he has ever seen after being in Cambodia when a million and a half civilians were murdered there. Mr. Griffith, I understand you hate Jews, but what did the Cambodians do to you?"
Remains of the genocide victim in Cambodia, photo: Moshe Shai
In the Cambodian genocide, which took place between 1975 and 1977, between one and a half million and two million people were murdered by the Khmer Rouge regime. The regime was established by an extreme left-wing movement and advocated emptying the cities of their inhabitants and holding the entire population in conditions of extreme slavery, starvation and arbitrary executions.
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