Former UNDP Head and New Zealand PM Helen Clark on Trip to Gaza: ‘A Genocide Is Unfolding’

The former head of the U.N. Development Programme (UNDP), Helen Clark, has returned from visiting Gaza and described the “enormous suffering” she saw there.

Also a former prime minister of New Zealand, Clark made the trip as a member of The Elders, a group of global leaders founded in 2007 by Nelson Mandela. She was accompanied by former U.N. Commissioner for Human Rights and past president of Ireland, Mary Robinson.

The Elders favour a two-state solution to the conflict between Israel and Palestine. During their trip, Robinson and Clark met with Egyptian Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty and Palestinian diplomats. They visited Al Arish hospital, which has been treating some medical evacuees from Gaza, talking with medical staff about what they have learned about the impact of the war on Gazan civilians.

They also met with U.N. teams who they say are ready to deliver vital food and medical support at scale, and have the capacity to do so, but claim Israeli authorities are blocking delivery, repeatedly sending trucks back without any plausible explanation.

Writing about her experience after returning to New Zealand, Clark said the closed Rafah crossing on the border between Egypt and Gaza was “eerily quiet.”

“Yet we were acutely aware that on the other side of that crossing was enormous suffering from years of blockade and from the heavy toll on human life and community infrastructure exacted since the latest Gaza war began in October 2023,” she said.

Near the crossing, on the Egyptian side of the border, is the “Philadelphi Corridor”—a narrow route along which humanitarian aid trucks approach an Israeli-staffed checkpoint.

“One driver with a food consignment told us that it was the second time that day that he had been turned away,” Clark wrote.

“Another carrying cartons clearly showing World Health Organisation labels had been turned back. The driver’s consignment note showed that he was carrying medical supplies like urine drainage bags, Ibuprofen, and nylon sutures.”

Famine and Genocide Unfolding

Away from the border, Clark and Robinson visited warehouses stacked with what they were told were rejected consignments. They observed wheelchairs, crutches, oxygen tanks, and other medical and disability supplies.

“A senior U.N. official told me that of 1,000 humanitarian consignments she had signed off on since July 27, only around 30 percent had been able to be delivered.

“Mary Robinson and I expressed our concern, on the basis of our briefings and observations, that there were both famine and genocide unfolding in Gaza. Since our visit, the situation has become even worse,” Clark said.

Referring to the latest Israeli Defence Force (IDF) incursion into Gaza, Clark says, “A traumatised and malnourished population has been told to evacuate yet again. The choice is stark: try to leave for an informal settlement where even tents are in short supply, or face death from bombardment.

“Add to this horrific outlook, the revelation from an Israeli defence force database that five out of every six Palestinians killed from October 2023 to May 2025 were civilians. The Gaza City reoccupation will further magnify the numbers of civilian deaths and injuries,” Clark said.

Mentioning that a “growing number of legal and genocide scholars are of the view that the tests for determining whether genocide has occurred have already been met,” Clark said.

For her part, Robinson says, “Political leaders have the power and the legal obligation to apply measures to pressure this Israeli government to end its atrocity crimes.

“This is all the more urgent in light of Prime Minister [Benjamin] Netanyahu’s Gaza City takeover plan. President Trump has the leverage to compel a change of course. He must use it now.”

Netanyahu Denies Claims

Netanyahu has denied claims that the Israeli government and IDF is using starvation as a weapon of war in Gaza.

He recently called a report by the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC), which declared famine was occurring in the region, an “outright lie.”

“Israel does not have a policy of starvation. Israel has a policy of preventing starvation,” Netanyahu said on Aug. 22.

“Since the beginning of the war Israel has enabled two million tons of aid to enter the Gaza Strip, over one ton of aid per person.”

He said the report fails to mention the Hamas terrorists’ “systematic theft” of aid.

“Hamas steals aid to finance its war machine,” Netanyahu said.

Netanyahu was issued an arrest warrant by the International Criminal Court (ICC) in November 2024 for various charges including alleged crimes of starvation.

The United States has rejected the validity of the arrest warrants, with Secretary of State Marco Rubio calling the ICC a “bankrupt institution” and sanctioning four of its judges on Aug. 20.