Israel’s UN Ambassador Danny Danon criticized United Nations humanitarian chief Tom Fletcher for not retracting accusations that Israel deliberately starved Palestinians in Gaza after newer assessments showed lower rates of acute malnutrition among young children.
In May 2025, Fletcher accused Israel of deliberately and systematically imposing forced starvation on Gaza’s population.
As head of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, Fletcher said Israel’s obstruction of aid trucks had produced a man-made famine in the Gaza Strip.
More recent UNICEF surveys and related assessments cited by Israeli officials and independent reports have indicated lower levels of acute malnutrition among young children.
Danon accused Fletcher of refusing to acknowledge evidence contradicting his previous statements.
“There is a troubling pattern here: you echo false claims about Israel, and when the facts prove otherwise, you refuse to retract them,” Danon wrote on X.
“From the false famine narrative to your outrageous ‘genocide’ remarks, the damage has already been done – you’ve fueled antisemitism and further eroded the UN’s credibility around the world.
AFSI Insight
The UN’s refusal to retract its discredited Gaza famine claims is another example of its persistent anti-Israel bias and unwillingness to acknowledge inconvenient facts. New UNICEF data showing dramatically lower levels of acute malnutrition undermine the sweeping starvation narrative previously promoted by UN officials. As AFSI has repeatedly emphasized, Israel should not be condemned based on politically driven claims that collapse when confronted with evidence. The UN owes Israel—and the public—an honest accounting and a retraction of false accusations.