‘Many will die’: UN aid chief warns of fallout as humanitarian relief cut

Ismael Mohammed, 47, gives water to his son Mohammed, 5, as they rest on the road while making their way back to their destroyed house in northern Gaza, on January 28, 2025 [Dawoud Abu Alkas/Reuters]

Tom Fletcher, the head of the United Nations office for humanitarian affairs, has told reporters that with 300 million people in need of assistance, recent cuts to humanitarian aid funds are causing a “seismic shock” globally.

“Many will die because that aid is drying up,” Fletcher, the UN’s under-secretary-general for humanitarian affairs and emergency relief coordinator, said at a news briefing at the UN headquarters in New York on Wednesday.