EXCLUSIVE — Israel’s U.N. Ambassador Danny Danon strongly criticized a U.N. official, stating his comments destroyed any sense of impartiality.

On Tuesday, Tom Fletcher, the U.N. Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator, accused Israel of genocide during his address to the U.N. Security Council.

“Israel is intentionally and openly inflicting inhumane conditions on civilians within the Occupied Palestinian Territory,” Fletcher told the Security Council. He added that most of Gaza is either within Israeli military zones or under evacuation orders.

Fletcher, who leads the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), also detailed the struggles of Gazans due to supply shortages, noting that aid trucks have been blocked from entering the Gaza Strip for ten weeks. He stated that hospitals are overwhelmed, and the population is facing famine and starvation.

“So, for those killed and those whose voices are silenced: what more evidence do you need now? Will you act – decisively – to prevent genocide and to ensure respect for international humanitarian law? Or will you say instead that ‘we did all we could?’,” Fletcher questioned.

READ THE LETTER –

While Fletcher’s remarks largely concerned Gaza, he also condemned the increasing “appalling violence” in the West Bank. On May 14, an Israeli woman who was pregnant was killed in a shooting on her way to the hospital to give birth. Tzeela Gez died, but doctors successfully delivered her baby, who, according to The , is “in serious but stable condition.”

Danon responded that Fletcher’s statements “shocked and disturbed” him, accusing the U.N. official of making a statement that was “utterly inappropriate and deeply irresponsible” and that “shattered any notion of neutrality.”

“You had the audacity, in your capacity as a senior U.N. official, to stand before the and invoke the charge of genocide without evidence, mandate, or restraint,” Danon wrote. “As a senior representative of the United Nations, you are obligated to refrain from prejudging complex international matters. Yet, this is precisely what you did before the Council. You did not brief the Council; you delivered a political sermon.”

In response to a Digital request for comment, OCHA spokesperson Eri Kaneko stated that “As Mr. Fletcher made clear in his Security Council remarks, it is for legal bodies to consider whether a genocide is taking place – Mr. Fletcher’s point is that the world must take decisive action to prevent genocide and ensure respect for international humanitarian law.”

When asked if Fletcher was accusing Israel of deliberately killing and harming civilians, Kaneko said that his words speak for themselves, as “not a single civilian in Gaza – teachers, artists, merchants, aid workers, hostages – has been spared.”

Danon inquired about the basis for Fletcher’s accusation, stating that the U.N. official’s use of the word “genocide” was a “desecration and subversion of a term with unique force and weight.” He further stated that what made Fletcher’s remarks “far worse” was that Israel had “engaged with you and your office in good faith at the highest levels.”

The concluded his letter by posing questions to Fletcher, asking him to consider whether he had done enough to prevent the events of Oct. 7, expedite the release of hostages, and hold Hamas responsible.

Kaneko told Digital that “Mr. Fletcher has repeatedly and publicly spoken out against what he calls the horrendous Hamas-led attacks and called for the release of the hostages. Mr. Fletcher was deeply moved by his visit in February to the kibbutz of Nir Oz, where one in four people were killed or taken hostage.”