During an emergency UN Security Council session, Tom Fletcher, Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs, delivered a haunting testimony on the devastation in Gaza, describing it as a place where “death has a sound and a smell that stay with you.” His words cut through diplomatic decorum to expose a brutal reality: Gaza is being strangled by siege, displacement, and indifference.

Fletcher condemned what he called Israel’s “deliberate and shameless imposition of inhumane conditions” on Palestinians, highlighting that for over ten weeks, not a single truck of food, medicine, or clean water has entered the Strip. With over 70% of Gaza rendered uninhabitable, families are being pushed into smaller and smaller spaces. “One in five people already suffers from famine,” he warned, as the humanitarian system collapses under the weight of daily death and displacement.

In a sharp rebuke to world powers, Fletcher asked: “What will you tell future generations? That you issued statements while Gaza burned? That you waited behind closed doors while genocide took root in plain sight?” He painted a grim picture of overwhelmed hospitals, injured civilians with no access to treatment, and children screaming as burnt flesh is peeled from their skin.

The UN official accused Israel of blocking humanitarian access while using starvation as leverage. He warned that the mechanisms Israel proposes for aid delivery are not humanitarian solutions but “bargaining chips wrapped in cruelty.”

Fletcher urged the Security Council to act before it is too late. “The evidence is here,” he said. “Will you act to stop genocide—or write history with your silence?”