Power’s Pulitzer-prize winning book on US failures to stop genocides once celebrated the power of public resignation.
Famine is likely already underway in parts of Gaza, Samantha Power, the top US humanitarian official, said publicly for the first time on Wednesday.
While testifying before the House Foreign Affairs Committee, Power, administrator of USAID and former US Ambassador to the UN, said that officials have “credible” information that famine is occurring in northern Gaza. Up until now, the UN has said famine in Gaza is “imminent.” (USAID did not immediately respond to a request for comment about Power’s comments.)
Power’s statement came after Rep. Julián Castro (D-Texas) asked her about news reports that some USAID officials had sent a cable to the National Security Council warning that famine was likely already occurring in parts of Gaza and that deaths due to hunger would likely “accelerate in the weeks ahead,” as first reported by HuffPost last week.
Power told Castro that those cables were based on a report compiled by a UN-backed agency and released last month that found that famine in northern Gaza was projected to occur between mid-March and May 2024.
“That is their assessment,” she told Castro of the agency’s findings, “and we believe that assessment is credible.”
“So there’s—famine is already occurring there?” Castro asked.
“That is—yes,” Power replied.
One in three kids in northern Gaza are malnourished, Power said at yesterday’s hearing, adding that officials expect rates of “severe, acute malnutrition” for kids under five to continue rising. The World Health Organization said last month that 27 children in Gaza had reportedly died of malnutrition since the start of the war last October. Experts say that those who survive could be left with life-long health complications, including stunted development.
Noah Lanard is a reporter for Mother Jones.
