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UNRWA Commissioner General Philippe Lazzarini on April 30, 2024 [FABRICE COFFRINI/AFP via Getty Images]
The head of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) on Saturday urged Israel to stop denying responsibility for the famine it caused in the Gaza Strip and called on influential states to act immediately to end the crisis, Anadolu reports.
“It’s time for the Government of Israel to stop denying the famine it has created in Gaza,” Philippe Lazzarini said on US social media platform X.
“All of those who have influence must use it with determination and a sense of moral duty. Every hour counts,” he added.
The Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC), the UN-backed global hunger monitor, confirmed on Friday that famine has been established in Gaza governorate, projecting that it will spread to central and southern areas of the enclave by the end of September.
Israel has killed more than 62,000 Palestinians in Gaza since October 2023. The military campaign has devastated the enclave, led to deaths by starvation, forced migration and spread of disease.
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.
Israel also faces a genocide case at the International Court of Justice for its war on the enclave.
Genocide denier and Current UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer is quoted that he supports Zionism without qualification. He also confirms that UK air force support has been essential in Israel’s mass-murdering genocide. Includes URLs https://www.declassifieduk.org/keir-starmers-100-spy-flights-over-gaza-in-support-of-israel/ and https://youtu.be/O74hZCKKdpAUK Labour Party government Keir Starmer, Angela Rayner and Rachel Reeves explain that they are participants and complicit in Israel’s Gaza genocide providing Israel with army and air force support. They explain that they don’t do gas chambers but do do forced marches, starvation, destroy hospitals, mass-murders of journalists and healthcare workers.Vote Labour for Genocide.
This work by Middle East Monitor is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
UNRWA Commissioner General Philippe Lazzarini on April 30, 2024 [FABRICE COFFRINI/AFP via Getty Images]
Philippe Lazzarini, the commissioner-general of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA), on Saturday condemned Israel’s ongoing ban on international journalists entering Gaza, calling it an unprecedented act in modern conflict, Anadolu reports.
“This is unprecedented in any other conflict in modern history,” Lazzarini said in a statement.
“It is a ban on the truth. It is a ban on reporting the facts. It is the perfect recipe to fuel misinformation, deepening polarization and dehumanization.”
He stressed the importance of allowing independent reporting and supporting local journalists: “International journalists must independently report from Gaza and support their Palestinian colleagues who continue to do a heroic job at a heavy price.”
“Nearly 200 of them were reported killed since the war began,” said Lazzarini, stressing that “the ban on international media must be lifted.”
Separately, the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) on Saturday reiterated its call for cooperation from the Israeli government over allegations made against the agency, stating that no credible evidence has been provided despite repeated requests.
“UNRWA has repeatedly requested cooperation and evidence from Israel regarding the serious allegations made against the Agency,” the agency said in an official statement.
“After 20 months, UNRWA has not received any response, nor has the Government of Israel shared any sufficient evidence.”
The agency emphasized its continued commitment to its humanitarian mandate, stating: “UNRWA remains committed to its mandate and is ready to deliver humanitarian assistance at scale in Gaza, together with other UN agencies.”
Israel, rejecting international calls for a ceasefire, has pursued a genocidal offensive in Gaza since October 2023, killing nearly 54,700 Palestinians, most of them women and children. Aid agencies have warned about the risk of famine among the enclave’s more than 2 million inhabitants.
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.
Israel also faces a genocide case at the International Court of Justice for its war crimes against civilians in the enclave.
This work by Middle East Monitor is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
UK Labour Party government ministers Keir Starmer, Angela Rayner and Rachel Reeves explain that they are partners complicit in Israel’s Gaza genocide. The UK has provided Israel with arms, military and air force support. They explain that they don’t do gas chambers but do do forced marches, starvation, destroy hospitals, mass-murders of journalists and healthcare workers.
Humanitarian aid trucks belonging to the World Food Program arrive in Gaza on September 26, 2024. (Photo: Hasan Zaain/Anadolu via Getty Images)
“This unacceptable event is just the latest example of the complex and dangerous working environment that WFP and other agencies are operating in today,” said the United Nations agency.
The United Nations World Food Program said Monday that Israeli forces opened fire on one of the organization’s aid convoys at a checkpoint in central Gaza over the weekend, an attack that the organization condemned as “horrifying.”
“This unacceptable event is just the latest example of the complex and dangerous working environment that WFP and other agencies are operating in today,” the organization said in a statement, noting that the convoy was “clearly marked” and that it had “received all of the necessary clearances from Israeli authorities” prior to Sunday’s attack.
“Security conditions in Gaza must urgently improve for lifesaving humanitarian assistance to continue,” WFP said, urging “all parties to respect international humanitarian law, protect civilian lives, and allow safe passage for humanitarian aid.”
At least 16 bullets struck the WFP convoy on Sunday, but none of the eight staffers traveling in the three vehicles that came under Israeli attack on Sunday were killed or wounded, WFP said.
It was nonetheless a “terrifying encounter” that underscored the dangers facing aid workers attempting to deliver food and other necessities to starving and desperate people across the Gaza Strip.
ABSOLUTELY UNACCEPTABLE: A @WFP convoy, clearly marked & carrying 8 team members, was shot at by Israeli forces near Wadi Gaza despite prior clearances. Humanitarians are #NotATarget!
Last year was the deadliest on record for aid workers around the world, according to the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, with Israeli attacks in Gaza fueling a surge in killings.
Philippe Lazzarini, commissioner-general of the U.N. Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), said in an October speech to the U.N. Security Council that Gaza is “the most dangerous place in the world for aid workers.”
Sunday wasn’t the first time Israeli forces have fired on a WFP convoy in Gaza during their 15-month assault on the Palestinian enclave. Last August, the WFP was forced to temporarily halt employee movements in Gaza after Israeli soldiers fired on one of the U.N. agency’s vehicles.
Stéphane Dujarric, spokesman for U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres, said Monday that WFP is “trying to get the answers” from Israeli forces on why they once again fired on an aid convoy, an attack that came as a new round of cease-fire talks began in Doha, brokered by Qatar and Egypt.
“I don’t think there’s an explanation for shooting at a clearly marked convoy from the World Food Program, whose movements had been completely coordinated with the Israeli security forces,” said Dujarric.
A worker with the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East and displaced Palestinians check the damage inside a U.N. school-turned-shelter near Gaza City after a reported Israeli strike on October 19, 2024. (Photo: Omar al-Qattaa/AFP via Getty Images)
“This legislation not only contravenes the basic principles of human rights that led to the U.N. General Assembly’s founding of UNRWA, but also violates a range of Israel’s international legal obligations.”
Over a year into Israel’s obliteration of the Gaza Strip, Israeli lawmakers faced sharp criticism on Monday after voting for a pair of bills targeting the United Nations agency responsible for humanitarian aid in the illegally occupied Palestinian territories.
The first bill, which says that the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) “will not operate any missions, won’t provide any service, and won’t hold any activity—directly or indirectly—in the sovereign territory of the state of Israel,” passed the Israeli parliament 92-10.
The second legislative proposal—under which the Israeli agency that handles humanitarian issues, the Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT), will have to cut off contact with UNRWA—passed the 120-member Knesset 87-9. Critics called the votes “grotesque” and “outrageous.”
The Israel-based organization Adalah said in a statement that “despite widespread international pressure and condemnation, the Knesset has nearly unanimously passed two bills aimed at dismantling UNRWA, all while Israel continues its genocidal assault on Gaza and intensifies violence across the West Bank, including East Jerusalem.”
“This legislation threatens a vital lifeline for over 2.5 million Palestinian refugees throughout the occupied Palestinian territory,” the group warned. “It represents a deliberate attempt to fundamentally undermine UNRWA and its essential mission of supporting the relief, education, and human development of Palestinian refugees. Specifically, the laws aim to strip Palestinians—who were forcibly displaced from their homes during the 1948 Nakba and the 1967 war—of their status as refugees and their right of return.”
The United Nations General Assembly created UNRWA in 1949, in the wake of the Nakba, or “catastrophe,” when more than 750,000 Palestinians fled or were forced from their homeland to establish the modern state of Israel—whose officials have claimed without providing evidence that a dozen of the agency’s 13,000 staffers in Gaza were involved with the Hamas-led October 7, 2023 attack on Israel.
“This legislation not only contravenes the basic principles of human rights that led to the U.N. General Assembly’s founding of UNRWA, but also violates a range of Israel’s international legal obligations, including those under the Genocide Convention and the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court,” said Adalah. “The international community must hold Israel accountable.”
The US allegedly asked Israel not to ban UNRWA, but it did so anyway.
The Biden-Harris administration must take real action to stop Israel from killing even more Palestinians.
Although Israel faces a South Africa-led genocide case at the International Court of Justice over its war on Hamas-controlled Gaza—which has killed at least 43,020 people and injured another 101,110 since last October—governments around the world have not acted to stop the bloodshed. The U.S. Congress and President Joe Biden’s administration have even provided Israel with billions of dollars in military aid and blocked cease-fire resolutions at the United Nations.
Earlier this month, the Biden administration finally threatened to cut off weapons if the Israeli government does not take “urgent and sustained actions” to improve humanitarian conditions in Gaza within 30 days. U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin’s letter specifically raised concerns about the legislation that passed the Knesset Monday.
Asked about the Israeli bills on Monday, Matthew Miller, a U.S. State Department spokesperson frequently slammed for his statements about Israel, pointed to the secretaries’ criticism of the legislation in the recent letter and acknowledged that UNRWA serves the West Bank and plays “an irreplaceable role” in Gaza, where Palestinians are starving to death.
.@leobruneau asked StateSpox about Israel voting to ban UNRWA earlier today.
Miller: The passage of this legislation could have implications under US law…UNRWA plays a critical role in delivering humanitarian assistance
Sally Abi Khalil, Oxfam’s regional director in the Middle East and North Africa, said Monday that “Israel has bombed Palestinians to death, maimed them, starved them, and is now ridding them of their biggest lifeline of aid. Piece by piece, Israel is systemically dismantling Gaza as a land that is autonomous and liveable for Palestinians.”
“Its banning of UNRWA today is condemnable and another step in this crime,” she argued. “The decision will further undermine the ability of the international community to provide sufficient humanitarian aid and to save lives in any safe, independent, and impartial way. UNRWA was not only the biggest and most established agency that has been delivering aid and sustenance to the people of Gaza for years, it was also a thread that connected them in some hope of solidarity and security to the United Nations.”
“We are in no doubt that Israel and its allies are fully aware of the terrible consequences that this decision will have on Palestinians living in Gaza, many of whom are already starving,” she added. “We join others in warning again that this will result in more death, more suffering, and more forced displacement of people from their besieged homeland. It is impossible not to believe that this is their aim.”
Leading up to the votes, human rights advocates have been sounding the alarm. On Saturday, over 50 groups including Oxfam, Human Rights Watch, and ActionAid released a joint statement demanding action and warning that “dismantling UNRWA would be catastrophic for Palestinians especially in Gaza and the West Bank as they are deprived of essentials such as food, water, medical aid, education, and protection. It will also have catastrophic consequences for millions of Palestinian refugees in Lebanon, Jordan, and Syria, where essential humanitarian aid is crucial for both the refugees and the host communities.”
How can the Israelis remain a #UN member when they not only violate the most basic laws of the @UN Charter but declare UN Secretary General @antonioguterres persona non grata and expel the UN refugee agency that millions of #Palestine refugees depend on, @UNRWA, as well as… https://t.co/8VZat2Gqt3
Philippe Lazzarini, the UNRWA commissioner-general, delivered a similar warning on social media Monday, declaring that the Knesset action not only “is unprecedented and sets a dangerous precedent” but “it opposes the U.N. Charter and violates the state of Israel’s obligations under international law.”
“This is the latest in the ongoing campaign to discredit UNRWA and delegitimize its role towards providing human-development assistance and services to Palestine Refugees,” he continued. “These bills will only deepen the suffering of Palestinians, especially in Gaza where people have been going through more than a year of sheer hell.”
“It will deprive over 650,000 girls and boys there from education, putting at risk an entire generation of children,” Lazzarini added. “These bills increase the suffering of the Palestinians and are nothing less than collective punishment.”
A Palestinian child who was wounded in an Israeli attack on Jabalia, Gaza receives treatment on October 9, 2024. (Photo: Dawoud Abo Alkas/Anadolu via Getty Images)
“The latest move to forcefully and violently push thousands of people from northern Gaza to the south is turning the north into a lifeless desert,” warned one aid worker.
The head of the United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees said Wednesday that at least 400,000 people are trapped in northern Gaza as Israeli forces ramp up their bombardment of the area, killing dozens and intensifying an already nightmarish humanitarian emergency.
“Northern Gaza: no end to hell,” Philippe Lazzarini, commissioner-general of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), wrote on social media. “Recent evacuation orders from the Israeli authorities are forcing people to flee again and again, especially from Jabalia Camp. Many are refusing because they know too well that no place anywhere in Gaza is safe.”
Lazzarini said some UNRWA shelters and services in northern Gaza have been forced to shut down amid the Israeli assault “for the first time since the war began” over a year ago.
“With almost no basic supplies available, hunger is spreading and deepening again,” said Lazzarini. “This recent military operation also threatens the implementation of the second phase of the polio vaccination campaign for children. Children are as ever, the first and most to suffer. They deserve so much better, they deserve a cease-fire now, they deserve a future.”
Zero humanitarian aid has entered besieged northern Gaza in over a week, according to aid groups and the U.N., and incessant Israeli attacks have rendered the area’s hospitals largely inaccessible. Israeli forces have ordered the area’s hospitals to evacuate, endangering patients and healthcare workers.
URGENT: The Israeli Army has ordered the evacuation of ActionAid partner Al-Awda, Indonesian, and Kamal Adwan hospitals in Gaza, putting critically ill patients, including those in ICUs, pregnant women and newborns in incubators, at grave risk.
The director of northern Gaza’s Kamal Adwan Hospital told Drop Site on Wednesday that he is refusing to comply with Israel’s evacuation order.
“As long as there are patients, I won’t leave,” said Dr. Hossam Abu Safia. “I’ve been here since the genocide started, and I am determined to continue helping my people.”
At least dozens of people have reportedly been killed in the Israeli military’s latest assault on northern Gaza, but emergency workers on the ground have said it’s impossible to determine the true toll given Israel’s ongoing bombing campaign, which has targeted the Jabalia refugee camp and other areas in the region.
Citing Gaza’s Civil Defense, The Associated Press reported Wednesday that an Israeli airstrike “hit a family home” in the Jabalia camp, “killing at least nine people”—including two women and two children.
“Footage shared by the Civil Defense showed first responders recovering dead bodies and body parts from under the rubble,” the outlet noted.
On Monday—the one-year anniversary of the Hamas-led October 7 attack and the beginning of Israel’s devastating response—Israeli forces ordered swaths of famine-stricken northern Gaza to evacuate, instructing residents to move south to Deir Al-Balah and Al-Mawasi, badly overcrowded so-called “humanitarian zones” that the Israeli military has repeatedly bombed.
The situation now at Northern Gaza Strip a very large number of missile attacks, shooting everywhere in every street, anyone who moves is killed, thousands of families are besieged, death is chasing us everywhere here in the northern Gaza Strip.
Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), also known as Doctors Without Borders, said Tuesday that Israel’s forced displacement of Palestinians is “turning the north of Gaza into an unlivable wasteland, effectively emptying out the whole north of the strip of Palestinian life.”
“The latest move to forcefully and violently push thousands of people from northern Gaza to the south is turning the north into a lifeless desert, while aggravating the situation in the south, where more than one million people have already been squeezed into a small portion of the Gaza Strip and live in deplorable conditions,” said Sarah Vuylsteke, an MSF project coordinator in Gaza.
“Access to water, healthcare, and safety is already almost nonexistent, and the thought of more people fitting into this space is impossible to imagine,” Vuylsteke added. “People have been subjected to endless displacement and relentless bombing for the past 12 months. Enough is enough, this must stop now.”
In a joint statement on Wednesday, a coalition of 18 aid groups warned that the ongoing Israeli assault “will worsen the already dire humanitarian situation in the north” and has already “prevented international and national humanitarian organizations from carrying out already very limited lifesaving aid operations.”
“The new orders have obstructed humanitarian actors from providing necessities such as health services, clean water, food, and nutrition services, taking away the remaining lifelines for the civilian population,” reads the statement signed by Oxfam, ActionAid, Islamic Relief, and more than a dozen other groups.
“Nowhere in Gaza is safe for civilians,” the coalition said. “Given the severity of the needs, humanitarian actors must be able to distribute aid and continue their work, without threat of displacement or military operations. The undersigned aid organizations urge all parties to the conflict to uphold their obligations to protect civilians and facilitate unhindered humanitarian access at all times.”
