CrossFireArabia
UNICEF documented 64 Israeli attacks on schools in Gaza during October, many serving as shelters for displaced families. Philippe Lazzarini, UNRWA’s Commissioner-General, warned that if the agency collapses, an entire generation of Gaza’s children could be deprived of their right to education.
CrossFireArabia
The head of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) pledged Wednesday to continue activities until the agency can no longer operate amid the Israeli Knesset’s recent decision to ban it from operating.
Emphasizing that the situation in the Gaza Strip has become more dire, Philippe Lazzarini told reporters at UN headquarters in New York that “we are experiencing the darkest moment for the agency in 75 years.”
Lazzarini noted that UNRWA and its staff are under continued attacks by Israeli forces, adding that “as of today, 243 staff have been killed” on UNRWA premises.
Highlighting the “intense and aggressive” disinformation campaign against the agency, Lazzarini said the adoption of Israeli Knesset’s recent bill aiming to ban the activities of UNRWA, starting in January, has further exacerbated the situation.
He stated that there is “deep anxiety” among UNRWA staff on the ground as the environment in the occupied West Bank and in Gaza is putting staff “even more at risk.”
“I’m afraid that much worse is to come if we have this pervasive environment,” Lazzarini added.
Asked about the possibility of the Knesset bill being implemented, Lazzarini affirmed that, (UNRWA) “will be operating until the day we cannot operate anymore.”
He pledged to provide and deliver services to those in need “until we are forced to stop.”
The UNRWA chief noted that Israel, as the occupying power, has the responsibility to provide the needs and services for not only those in Gaza but also in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem, if the agency can no longer operate according to Anadolu.
“UNRWA is a softer target for anyone who views its presence or its activities as a threat,” he said. “The intention to undermine UNRWA is politically motivated.”
“The (political) objective is to strip the Palestinians from the refugee stature, and also to unilaterally change the parameters for a political solution,” he said, adding that the political motivation also aims to undermine Palestinians’ aspiration for self-determination and a two-state solution.
Lazzarini described attacks on UNRWA as an attack on the UN, the General Assembly and the Security Council, and said the attacks are “further weakening the rule-based order that we have inherited after World War II.”
He emphasized the importance of “political will” for the success of the agency as “there is a race against the clock.”
Asked about Israeli envoy to UN Danny Danon’s demand for Lazzarini to resign, the UNRWA chief said he would “envisage” the demand if it were to make a difference but “it is not my person, it is my function which is the primary target today.”
“It is part of this broader campaign to delegitimize the agency,” he added.
Responding to Anadolu’s question on the death toll in Gaza as well as his view about the situation if he were not a UN official, Lazzarini said: “It has been a war of all possible superlative.”
He said journalists, health care workers and UN personnel have been killed at “unprecedented” levels, noting that the scale of destruction is “certainly” higher than the numbers reported.
Lazzarini pointed to deaths caused by “sub-human” living conditions, highlighting that children are living amid garbage and sewage.
Saying that nearly every word has been used to describe the situation in Gaza, Lazzarini said, “Sometimes I’m just wordless or speechless.”
He noted that even using “massacre” may not fully capture the severity, adding, “It’s just unbelievable the suffering inflicted on these communities.”
Adding that some people in Gaza hope for death, Lazzarini said, “We heard at the beginning of the war, the expression ‘human animal.’ That’s how people start to feel. They have lost everything, and they feel that they have lost also the dignity.”
CrossFireArabia
Israel has used hunger as a weapon, depriving people in Gaza of basic necessities, including food needed for survival, according to Commissioner-General of UNRWA, Philippe Lazzarini.
CrossFireArabia
Since the beginning of the ongoing Israeli genocide in the Gaza Strip, the Israeli occupation has imposed a severe blockade, preventing the entry of humanitarian supplies and essential food, leaving more than 2.5 million Palestinians facing the threat of famine and malnutrition.
Israel reduced the daily number of humanitarian aid trucks allowed into the Gaza Strip to just 30 in October, the head of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) said Monday.
“This is the lowest in a long time, bringing the assistance back to the level of the beginning of the war,” Philippe Lazzarini said on X.
Since the outbreak of hostilities on Oct. 7, Israel has maintained strict closures on Gaza’s crossings, limiting essential goods and imposing significant restrictions on humanitarian aid, creating severe living conditions.
Lazzarini emphasized that these 30 daily trucks “cannot meet the needs of over 2 million people, many of whom are starving, sick, and in desperate conditions.”
He noted that these trucks “represent only 6% of the supplies (commercial and humanitarian) allowed into Gaza before the war,” according to Anadolu.
Israel has continued a devastating offensive on Gaza since an attack last year by Hamas, despite a UN Security Council resolution demanding an immediate cease-fire.
Nearly 43,400 people have since been killed, mostly women and children, and over 102,200 others injured, according to local health authorities.
Israel also faces a genocide case at the International Court of Justice for its actions in Gaza.
CrossFireArabia
“At least 400,000 people are trapped in the northern Gaza Strip, and Israeli evacuation orders are forcing people to flee repeatedly, especially from Jabalia camp,” UNRWA Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini, said.
“A large number of Palestinians are refusing to evacuate, because they realize that there is no safe place in the Gaza Strip,” he explained in a press statements, Wednesday.
“The spread and worsening famine throughout the Strip, with the lack of basic supplies,” is more acute than ever, Lazzarini pointed out.
“Some of the agency’s shelter and service centers are being forced to close for the first time since the beginning of the war,” he added.
“The continued bombing threatens the implementation of the second phase of the polio vaccination campaign in the Gaza Strip,” he emphasized.
The Israeli occupation army, supported by the United States and Europe, has been continuing its aggression on the Gaza Strip for a whole year, as its warplanes bomb the vicinity of hospitals, buildings, towers and homes of Palestinian civilians, destroying them over the heads of their inhabitants, and preventing the entry of water, food, medicine and fuel.
The ongoing aggression by the occupation on Gaza has led to the martyrdom of more than 41,965 martyrs, the injury of more than 97,590 others, and the displacement of 90% of the population of the Strip, according to data from the United Nations.
