UN corrects statement

5:16 pm on 9 June 2025

(250427) -- BEIJING, April 27, 2025 (Xinhua) -- UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator Tom Fletcher receives an interview with Xinhua in Beijing, capital of China, on April 25, 2025. Countries can only achieve broad-based economic development by forging partnerships rooted in trust and dialogue -- a fact exemplified by China, Fletcher said. (Xinhua/Zhang Yuwei) (Photo by Zhang Yuwei / XINHUA / Xinhua via AFP)

UN Spokesman Tom Fletcher. Photo: Zhang Yuwei / Xinhua / AFP

On May 21, 2025, RNZ ran stories across programmes and bulletins based on a BBC interview with UN Spokesman Tom Fletcher where he said, "14,000 babies would be at risk of dying in Gaza within a 48-hour period due to starvation".

This claim was corrected by the UN a short time after that interview.

The statement was based on an IPC report which warned 14,100 severe cases of acute malnutrition were expected to occur between April, 2025, and March, 2026, among children aged between six months and five years.

RNZ reports of the interview which ran before - or without - the UN correction have been retracted.