World Food Programme Director Cindy McCain sat down for an interview with NBC’s “Meet the Press” host Kristen Welker to discuss the humanitarian crisis in Gaza, saying there’s ‘full-blown famine’ in northern Gaza.
“Whenever you have conflicts like this, and emotions rage high, and things happen in a war, famine happens. And so, what I can explain to you is [that] there is full-blown famine in the north, and it’s moving its way south,” McCain told Welker during the interview, which is set to air in its entirety Sunday.
McCain expressed severe concern amid the ongoing humanitarian crises, asking for a “cease-fire” for “unfettered access” to deliver food into Gaza safely.
Welker followed up with McCain in the interview, asking, “[what] you’re saying [is] there’s full-blown famine in northern Gaza,” and the World Food Programme director responded, saying, “Yes, I am.”
The United Nations food agency in March issued a statement, warning that famine was “imminent” in Gaza as the war between Israel and Hamas rages on.
McCain previously stated, following a report from the World Food Programme (WFP), that “People in Gaza are starving to death right now. The speed at which this man-made hunger and malnutrition crisis has ripped through Gaza is terrifying.”
During the interview, Welker ensured that there was no official declaration on famine in Gaza, but McCain expressed that it’s what she has seen, saying, “It’s horror.”