In Manila on eve of Middle East trip, US secretary of state echoes UN-backed assessment that famine looms in war-wracked enclave

“According to the most respected measure of these things, 100 percent of the population in Gaza is at severe levels of acute food insecurity. That’s the first time an entire population has been so classified,” Blinken told a press conference in the Philippines, where he is on an official visit.

  • Linkerbaan@lemmy.worldOPEnglish
    143·
    9 months ago

    That’s weird why would you lie?

    British member of parliament Alicia Kearns said on X (formerly Twitter) that Israel was failing to meet its legal obligation to help aid get into the besieged enclave, citing the closure of the Kerem Shalom crossing. “I’ve just returned from the aid staging location in Egypt, thousands of trucks are sat waiting to deliver aid,” she wrote.

    In response, Israeli government spokesperson Eylon Levy claimed that the crossing was “currently closed on Saturdays at the request of the UN because there is so much undistributed aid piling up on the other side”.

    Kearns asked for evidence from Levy, pointing out that his claim was the “opposite” of what she had been told by the UK government, Egyptian government and the UN. “They are clear the Israeli Govt requested no deliveries on a Saturday,” she wrote.

    Levy has yet to respond.