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The head of the World Food Programme has expressed frustration and anger over the food crisis in the Gaza Strip, which is worsening amid an ongoing Israeli military offensive, NHK reported.
WFP Executive Director Cindy McCain spoke in an interview with NHK in the Japanese city of Yokohama, just south of Tokyo, on Friday.
The United Nations said on the same day that famine had been confirmed in Gaza City and surrounding areas.
McCain described the food situation in the Gaza Strip as "catastrophic." She said: "There's very serious malnutrition. You've seen people die of hunger there,” NHK reported.
McCain said the WFP is "the largest and the best and the only one that can deliver the kind of food at scale that Gaza needs."
But she explained that the food shortage has been increasing as aid activities have been impeded amid an ongoing Israeli military offensive.
McCain said, "It's very difficult when they're pointing guns at us or tanks or anything else." She added: "There's been aid stoppage because all of a sudden that road is blocked. We can't get in."
McCain also remarked on Sudan, where famine has been continuing in some areas for more than a year. She said Sudan is experiencing "the largest humanitarian crisis on the planet."
McCain said: "Gaza has gotten a lot of coverage, understandably. But we need to talk about Sudan and South Sudan and DRC Congo and the Sahel."