UNITED NATIONS — The U.N. humanitarian agency said it is cutting its 2,600 staff operating in more than 60 countries by 20% because of “brutal cuts” in funding that have left it with a nearly $60 million shortfall.

U.N. humanitarian chief Tom Fletcher said in a letter obtained Friday by The Associated Press that “the humanitarian community was already underfunded, overstretched and literally, under attack” before the recent funding cuts.

In the letter to staff at the agency, he didn’t say which country was responsible for the cuts that led to the funding crisis at the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, known as OCHA.

Fletcher said OCHA had an overall budget of around $430 million for 2025, noting that several countries have announced or implemented cuts to the agency’s extra-budgetary resources.

“The U.S. alone has been the largest humanitarian donor for decades,” he said, and the biggest contributor to OCHA’s extra-budgetary resources, paying about 20% — which amounts to $63 million for 2025.

— The Associated Press