7/7/2025
Dear Mr Collier,
We hope this letter finds you well.
We are currently working on a book, titled: ‘Complicit: Britain’s Role in the Destruction of Gaza’, due to be published later this year. In the book, we discuss something that you posted on X; we are writing to you in the hope that you can help clarify this statement.
On 19 December 2024, you posted on X: “Nobody is dying of thirst in Gaza. Nobody is dying of hunger. Israel is defending itself against terrorists. Human Rights Watch & Amnesty are trying to redefine (belittle) words in the English language (like genocide) to demonise and ostracise Israel. They are spreading lies.” See here: https://x.com/mishtal/status/1869719613078204496
Two days before your tweet, the charity ActionAid warned that people in Gaza were “starving to death”, and that “up to 75,000 people have been almost entirely cut off from supplies of food for more than 60 days” in the northern part of the enclave. See here: https://www.actionaid.org.uk/latest-news/food-shortages-gaza
Meanwhile, Oxfam confirmed that “humanitarian organisations operating in Gaza were receiving calls from vulnerable people trapped in homes and shelters that had completely run out of food and water” earlier that month, that some people had been reduced to eating leaves, and that some families were in an ongoing situation where they had “no food or shelter”. See here: https://www.oxfam.org.uk/media/press-releases/just-twelve-trucks-distribute-food-and-water-in-north-gaza-governorate-in-25-months/
UNICEF reported that a baby boy died as a result of starvation in Gaza just ten days before your tweet – though only made this public the day after your tweet. See here: https://www.unicef.org/press-releases/cold-sick-and-traumatized-ongoing-nightmare-children-gaza
What explains your statement that “Nobody is dying of hunger” in Gaza, given what these humanitarian organisations were documenting and reporting at the time?
We would appreciate a response by this Thursday, 10th July, at 12 noon, to fit with our publication deadlines.
Peter’s phone number is: xxxxxxxxxxxxx.
We would be grateful if you could confirm receipt of this message.
Yours sincerely,
Irfan Chowdhury and Peter Oborne
