United Nations World Food Programme Executive Director Cindy McCain stressed the “immediate” need for aid and a ceasefire in Gaza.
“It’s a tragedy. And what we need right now is an immediate ceasefire, complete, unfettered access, along with the safe fence roads, every gate open, to feed people and stop this catastrophe from happening. If we don’t do that, it’s going to be a humanitarian catastrophe, as I’ve said, like none other,” McCain said Sunday on “This Week with George Stephanopoulos.”
The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) began delivering aid this week after an 11-week embargo. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced on May 19 that Israel, “with our American friends,” was creating a “system with distribution centers” that would be “secured by the IDF, preventing Hamas from reaching the area.”
GHF has been criticized by the United Nations and other aid groups for its distribution methods. Photos and videos out of Gaza show long lines of Palestinians waiting for aid. The United Nations warns that Gaza is approaching a famine.
According to the Gaza health ministry, 31 people were killed and 200 injured when Israel opened fire on a GHF aid distribution center located in Rafah. In a statement posted to X, the Israel Defense Forces said, “At this stage, there are no known casualties from IDF gunfire” within the site. “The matter is still under investigation.”
“They don’t have nearly enough access points. They don’t have nearly enough food going in. And — and so the — the feel of desperation, you can see it in the video, is very — it’s very disheartening,” McCain said. “I mean, for all of us that do this, you know, this is what we do. We — we — we understand what it takes and we understand the complexity of it. But we also understand the grave humanitarian need that — that is existing now.”
Here are more highlights from McCain’s interview:
On the UN’s interaction with the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation
Stephanopoulos: Have you had any coordination at all this week with the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation?
McCain: No, I have not personally. I know that there’s been some — some meetings that have taken place around the — around the — Europe, particularly on some of the things. But we have — we’ve not seen a plan. We’ve been a part of some of those meetings. Some of them we have not been. But again, we’ve seen no plan. And, look, we will work with anybody to feed. This is — this is the kind of thing that, at this level of desperation, we’ve got to work together on trying to feed people. So — so it’s not about not willing to work with people. We need the access. We need the Israelis to let us in so we can do our job. And we do it — we are the best at what we do, I might add. And we’re the ones — we — we can — we can not only get in, but we can get in at scale, which is what is most important right now.
On Secretary of State Marco Rubio saying ‘that’s a lie that people are dying from USAID cuts
Stephanopoulos: Is it a lie that people have died because of the aid cuts?
McCain: Well, you know, I’m not going to — going to even pretend to understand what’s going on with inside the — the U.S. government at this particular point. I know what I see on the ground, not just in Gaza but around the world. There’s places like Sudan, the DRC Congo, other places, South Sudan, et cetera, they’re — they’re in just as much trouble as this. We need to get aid in, in Gaza, and we need to get it in now to avoid this catastrophe.
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