Wikipedia's first sentence called it “irish national and former officer in the irish army who has served as head of the united nation's relief and wo”. Today it says “irish humanitarian and senior united nations official”.
Measured, not asserted. Every count, date and revision on this page was taken from Wikipedia's own history and checked against the live article. The words quoted are theirs.
Machine-checked against the full current article on 2026-08-03.
We saved snapshots of this article over twenty years; you are reading the 2025 one. Red dashes: removed from Wikipedia since.Pale dots: rewritten; the numbered note shows what it says now.Red text: written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot.1 tap a number or a side note to jump between them
The opening as it read in 2025
John Ging (born 1965) is an Irish humanitarian and senior United Nations official. Since February 2011, he was served as the director of the Operational Division at the Uited Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) in New York. In this role, he oversees the management of OCHA's field operations globally and acts as the primary point of contact for supporting Humanitarian Coordinator on behalf of the Emergency Relief Coordinator. He also serves as the principal adviser to the Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs on operational matters. Before joining OCHA, Ging was the director of Operations for the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) in the Gaza Strip from 2006 to 2011. Earlier in his career, Ging held a range of humanitarian and peacekeeping positions in the Balkans, Africa, and the Middle East. In Kosovo, he was Chief of Staff of the Institution Building Pillar within the United Nations Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK). Prior to that, he served for eight years as Chief of Staff with the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) Mission to Bosnia and Herzegovina. From 1994 to 1996, during and after the Rwandan genocide , he worked as Regional Field Director for the Irish non-governmental organization GOAL. His responsibilities included coordination of emergency relief efforts in refugee camps affected by cholera . Between 1989 and 1994, he completed three tours of duty as a United Nations peacekeeper with the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) . Ging began his professional career in 1983 as a commissioned officer in the Irish Defence Forces. He holds a Barrister-at-Law qualification and is a graduate of the National University of Ireland, Galway (NUI Galway), where he earned both undergraduate and postgraduate degrees in law, sociology, and political science.
This is Wikipedia's own text, saved in our repository. Their copy of it is revision 1287653863.
The opening as it stood in 2010
John Ging (born 1965) is an Irish national and former officer in the Irish Army who has served as head of the United Nation's Relief and Works Agency ( UNRWA ) in the Gaza Strip since 2006. As head of the United Nation's 10,000 employee operation there, he became a sought-after commentator by the media and an information source for foreign governments during Israel 's 2008-2009 offensive in Gaza .
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 360583382.
The opening as it stood in 2015
John Ging (born 1965) is an Irish national and former officer in the Irish Army who served as head of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) in the Gaza Strip from 2006 to 2011. As head of the United Nations' 10,000 employee operation there, he became a sought-after commentator by the media and an information source for foreign governments during Israel 's 2008-2009 offensive in Gaza .
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 655479129.
The opening as it stood in 2020 2 passages from the previous snapshot no longer appear
John Ging (born 1965), an Irish national, was appointed as Director of the Operational Division at the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) in New York in February 2011.He oversees the management of all OCHA field operations worldwide.On behalf of the Emergency Relief Coordinator, he is the day-to-day focal point for supporting Humanitarian Coordinators.Ging is also the lead adviser to the Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs on operational decision-making.Prior to joining OCHA, John Ging was the Director of UNRWA Operations in the Gaza Strip from 2006 until 2011.Before joining UNRWA, Ging worked in a variety of missions in the Balkans, Africa and the Middle East.In the Balkans, he served as chief of staff of the Institution Building Pillar within the UN Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK).Prior to that, he worked for 8 years as chief of staff in the mission of the Organization for Security Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) in Bosnia and Herzegovina.During and after the Rwandan genocide (1994–1996), Ging served as regional field director with the Irish NGO GOAL .According to colleagues who worked with him at the time, he took on difficult jobs like arranging the mass burial of 40,000 refugees who died when cholera swept through their camp.In the period 1989–1994, Ging completed three tours of duty as a United Nations peacekeeper with UNIFIL in South Lebanon.He began his career in the Irish Defense Forces in 1983, where he served as a commissioned officer.John Ging is a lawyer (Barrister-at-Law) by qualification.He is a double graduate of National University of Ireland, Galway (NUI Galway), holding a primary and a postgraduate degrees, having completed studies in Law, Sociology and Political Science.
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 956585230.
The opening as it stood on October 6, 2023
Irish Army officer John Ging (born 1965), an Irish national, was appointed as Director of the Operational Division at the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) in New York in February 2011. He oversees the management of all OCHA field operations worldwide. On behalf of the Emergency Relief Coordinator, he is the day-to-day focal point for supporting Humanitarian Coordinators. Ging is also the lead adviser to the Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs on operational decision-making. Prior to joining OCHA, John Ging was the Director of UNRWA Operations in the Gaza Strip from 2006 until 2011. Before joining UNRWA, Ging worked in a variety of missions in the Balkans, Africa and the Middle East. In the Balkans, he served as chief of staff of the Institution Building Pillar within the UN Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK). Prior to that, he worked for 8 years as chief of staff in the mission of the Organization for Security Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) in Bosnia and Herzegovina. During and after the Rwandan genocide (1994–1996), Ging served as regional field director with the Irish NGO GOAL . According to colleagues who worked with him at the time, he took on difficult jobs like arranging the mass burial of 40,000 refugees who died when cholera swept through their camp. In the period 1989–1994, Ging completed three tours of duty as a United Nations peacekeeper with UNIFIL in South Lebanon. He began his career in the Irish Defense Forces in 1983, where he served as a commissioned officer. John Ging is a lawyer (Barrister-at-Law) by qualification. He is a double graduate of National University of Ireland, Galway (NUI Galway), holding a primary and a postgraduate degrees, having completed studies in Law, Sociology and Political Science.
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 1161330314.
Today
Wikipedia's first sentence called it “irish national and former officer in the irish army who has served as head of the united nation's relief and wo”. Today it says “irish humanitarian and senior united nations official”. Read the current article and compare.
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Counts in the opening at each snapshot. Green: the word gained ground. Red: it was cut. Grey: no change.
What Wikipedia says this is
Every article opens by defining its subject. This one was redefined since 2010, and today's defining sentence is their current revision.
Then
irish national and former officer in the irish army who has served as head of the united nation's relief and wo
Now
irish humanitarian and senior united nations official
Struck red text is no longer in the article; dotted amber text was rewritten. Every revision id links to Wikipedia's copy; the text shown is our own saved copy. Data: /data. Wikipedia text is CC BY-SA; quoted for the record; not affiliated with Wikipedia.