UNRWA Archives - Page 3 of 20

HRW: Israel Destroys 500 Schools in Gaza

CrossFireArabia
August 7, 2025

In its latest report “Gaza: Israeli School Strikes Magnify Civilian Peril”, Human Rights Watch states that hundreds of Israeli attacks since October 2023 have struck over 500 school buildings through out the Gaza Strip.

These schools, used as shelters for the hundreds of thousands of people displaced since the Israeli war on the enclave, have since become killing fields. Many people living there continued to be killed because of the strikes.

The report stated the Israeli forces’ deadly attacks on schools sheltering Palestinian civilians highlight the absence of safe places for displaced people, the vast majority of Gaza’s population.

Human Rights Watch added the Israeli attacks is sure to contribute to the disruption of access to education for many years, as repair and reconstruction of schools can require significant resources and time.

See: Full Report

News

Gaza is Being Starved

CrossFireArabia
August 4, 2025

All of Gaza is being starved by the Israeli occupation.

This is a cartoon by Alaa Laqta

The UNRWA Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini stated that: The famine in Gaza is the result of a deliberate attempt to replace the UN System of distribution with the so-called “Gaza humanitarian mechanism”.

The current aid mechanism is politically driven and is responsible for the deaths of around 1,400 starving people in Gaza. The situation has worsened as UNRWA has been prevented from bringing any aid into Gaza for the past five months.

The marginalization and weakening of UNRWA has nothing to do with allegations of aid being diverted to armed groups. The deliberate weakening of UNRWA is aimed at exerting collective pressure and punishing Palestinians simply for remaining in Gaza.

News

Airdrops 100 Times More Expensive Than Trucks – UNRWA

CrossFireArabia
August 4, 2025

Airdrops are at least 100 times more costly than trucks.

Trucks carry twice as much aid as planes.

If there is political will to allow airdrops – which are highly costly, insufficient and inefficient, there should be similar political will to open the road crossings.

As the people of Gaza are starving to death, the only way to respond to the famine is to flood Gaza with assistance.

UNRWA the largest UN agency on the ground, has 6,000 trucks loaded with aid stuck outside Gaza waiting for the green light to enter.

The UN including UNRWA and partners were able to bring in 500 to 600 trucks a day during the ceasefire earlier this year.

Aid reached the entire population of Gaza in safety and dignity. It succeeded to reverse the deepening starvation without any aid diversion.

No alternative to the UN coordinated response with UNRWA as the backbone had provided similar results.

Let’s go back to what works and let us do our job.

This is what people in Gaza need today more than ever together with a lasting ceasefire

Background Information:

UNRWA is the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East. The United Nations General Assembly established UNRWA in 1949 with a mandate to provide humanitarian assistance and protection to registered Palestine refugees in the Agency’s area of operations pending a just and lasting solution to their plight.

UNRWA operates in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, The Gaza Strip, Jordan, Lebanon and Syria.

Tens of thousands of Palestine refugees who lost their homes and livelihoods due to the 1948 conflict continue to be displaced and in need of support, nearly 75 years on.

UNRWA helps Palestine Refugees achieve their full potential in human development through quality services it provides in education, health care, relief and social services, protection, camp infrastructure and improvement, microfinance, and emergency assistance. UNRWA is funded almost entirely by voluntary contributions.

Reliefweb

News

Video of ‘Skin & Bones’ Israeli Soldier Goes Viral

CrossFireArabia
August 2, 2025

The military wing of Hamas, Al-Qassam Brigades, has released a new video showing an emaciated Israeli soldier prisoner, highlighting the devastating Israeli-made famine in Gaza. The video directly states that the Israeli government is imposing starvation on both Israeli prisoners and Palestinians, especially children.

https://t.me/TTT_TTn/5617?embed=1

The footage, titled “The Israeli Government Decided to Starve Them”, was published in Arabic, Hebrew, and English by Al-Qassam’s military media unit. It features a visibly frail Israeli soldier prisoner. His bones are prominent, and his body shows severe signs of malnutrition. The brigades said the prisoner was scheduled for release in a swap deal that Israel continues to delay.

In the same clip, heartbreaking scenes of starved Palestinian infants appear. Their bodies have withered into skeletal frames due to months of Israeli-enforced hunger. The video also includes statements by Israeli officials, including National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, who is heard saying, “What Gaza needs now is bombs.” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is also quoted: “We will allow only the bare minimum of aid.”

Al-Qassam states in the video: “They eat what we eat. They drink what we drink,” referring to the Israeli soldier prisoners held in Gaza.

The UN agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA, recently confirmed that “the famine in Gaza is entirely man-made.” The agency stressed the urgent need to let humanitarian workers operate freely. Over one million children now face hunger in Gaza.

Human Rights Watch also slammed Israel’s blockade. It described the Israeli aid distribution mechanism as a flawed military structure that has turned humanitarian aid into “a bloodbath and a death trap.”

The Al-Qassam video includes multiple angles of the Israeli prisoner, showing his extreme weight loss. Parallel shots of malnourished Palestinian children drive home the message that starvation in Gaza is widespread and deliberate.

The video also reminds viewers that the prisoner could have been released in a deal. But Israel continues to block progress, leaving both its soldiers and Palestinians to suffer under a policy of starvation.

Gaza today faces its worst humanitarian crisis in modern history. Famine is spreading fast. The population is trapped under relentless Israeli attacks, backed by the United States since October 7, 2023.

According to the Health Ministry, nearly 208,000 Palestinians have been killed or injured since the start of the genocide. At least 159 people, mostly children, have died from starvation and malnutrition alone. More than 2 million have been displaced. Around 90% of Gaza’s buildings lie in ruins according to the Quds News Network.

News

Airdrops No Solution to Starvation

CrossFireArabia
July 27, 2025

The head of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) on Saturday called proposed humanitarian airdrops over the Gaza Strip a “distraction” and “screensmoke” aimed at diverting attention from the catastrophic humanitarian situation in the besieged enclave.

Philippe Lazzarini made the remarks in response to a Western media report claiming that Israel would allow airdrops by Western countries for two days starting Friday.

No airdrops, however, have been observed until now.

“Airdrops will not reverse the deepening starvation. They are expensive, inefficient and can even kill starving civilians,” the UNRWA commissioner-general said.

“Driving aid through is much easier, more effective, faster, cheaper, and safer. It’s more dignified for the people of Gaza.”

“A manmade hunger can only be addressed by political will. Lift the siege, open the gates and guarantee safe movements and dignified access to people in need,” Lazzarini continued.

“At UNRWA, we have the equivalent of 6,000 trucks in Jordan and Egypt waiting for the green light to get into Gaza,” he added.

On Saturday, Gaza’s Health Ministry said five more Palestinians, including two children, died from hunger and malnutrition in the last 24 hours, pushing the death toll since October 2023 to 127, including 85 children.

Gaza’s government media office warned of a mass-death risk threatening over 100,000 children under the age of 2 due to the depletion of milk and nutritional supplements amid Israel’s ongoing blockade.

UN and local organizations have warned that continued Israeli restrictions on aid access could lead to widespread child fatalities amid a complete collapse of Gaza’s healthcare system.

Since March 2, Israel has closed all border crossings with Gaza, blocking hundreds of trucks and worsening humanitarian conditions in the enclave.

Rejecting international calls for a ceasefire, the Israeli army has pursued a brutal offensive on Gaza since Oct. 7, 2023, killing over 59,700 Palestinians, most of them women and children. The relentless bombardment has destroyed the enclave and led to food shortages.

Last November, the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza according to Anadolu.

Israel also faces a genocide case at the International Court of Justice for its war on the enclave.