Lazzarini said that the impact of the Israeli decision on UNRWA’s operations is already being felt on the ground.
The head of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), Phillipe Lazzarini, urged the international community on Monday to contest Israel’s recent ban of the organization, stressing that no other entity can substitute the work of the UN agency on the ground, Anadolu news agency reported.
Lazzarini said that the impact of the Israeli decision on UNRWA’s operations is already being felt on the ground.
The Commissioner-General of UNRWA told Anadolu in a press briefing that in view of the Israeli ban on its operations in the occupied Palestinian territories, UNRWA is working on a contingency plan in cooperation with several other non-governmental organizations.
However, Lazzarini explained that these contingency efforts are mainly focused in occupied Jerusalem.
The UNRWA chief told reporters that the agency is also actively involved with the United States in discussions regarding the impact of the Israeli ban.
‘Responsibility Will Go Back to Israel’
Lazzarini accentuated the crucial need for the support of the international community to sustain the operations of the UN organization so as not to destabilize the region further.
“There is no plan B within the UN family,” he stressed, underlining that in the absence of a “UN or international community response, the responsibility will go back to the occupying power,” Israel in this case.
“That’s where we have to ask, where does the plan B sit today?,” he wondered.
Lazzarini emphasized the urgency of “shielding” the UN agency from political pressure while warning that UNRWA staff are facing tremendous risks of job uncertainty, harassment, and even arrest due to categorizing the organization as being associated with terrorist activities by some countries.
He vowed that UNRWA would continue its operations as long as it could.
“We still owe it to Palestinian refugees to exhaust all possible avenues. We will operate until the day we cannot operate anymore,” he stated.
Lazzarini called on the UN member states to act swiftly within the “three-month deadline” to avoid the implementation of the ban and the devastating consequences of the decision that would halt all operations of UNRWA in the occupied Palestinian territories.
Moreover, UNRWA’s chief urged the G20 summit to “prioritize Gaza” in their deliberations in Rio de Janeiro where they are meeting.
He also emphasized that the “man-made” hunger crisis in the Gaza Strip is easily reversible through solid political will.
“Gaza is one of the easiest places to make a difference … you only need political will to reverse this spread of hunger and looming famine,” Anadolu quoted Lazzarini as saying.
The commissioner-general briefed reporters on the devastating humanitarian conditions in the besieged enclave accentuating that thousands of displaced Palestinians face tremendous challenges with the onset of the winter season.
“Winter is here, but it’s excruciatingly difficult to bring in non-food items or essential equipment for the winter,” Lazzarini told Anadolu that the number of humanitarian aid trucks had significantly dropped in October.
Genocide Continues
Flouting a UN Security Council resolution demanding an immediate ceasefire, Israel has faced international condemnation amid its continued brutal offensive on Gaza.
Currently on trial before the International Court of Justice for genocide against Palestinians, Israel has been waging a devastating war on Gaza since October 7.
According to Gaza’s Ministry of Health, 43,922 Palestinians have been killed, and 103,898 wounded in Israel’s ongoing genocide in Gaza starting on October 7, 2023.
Moreover, at least 11,000 people are unaccounted for, presumed dead under the rubble of their homes throughout the Strip.
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Israel says that 1,200 soldiers and civilians were killed during the Al-Aqsa Flood Operation on October 7. Israeli media published reports suggesting that many Israelis were killed on that day by ‘friendly fire’.
Palestinian and international organizations say that the majority of those killed and wounded are women and children.
The Israeli war has resulted in an acute famine, mostly in northern Gaza, resulting in the death of many Palestinians, mostly children.
The Israeli aggression has also resulted in the forceful displacement of nearly two million people from all over the Gaza Strip, with the vast majority of the displaced forced into the densely crowded southern city of Rafah near the border with Egypt – in what has become Palestine’s largest mass exodus since the 1948 Nakba.
Later in the war, hundreds of thousands of Palestinians began moving from the south to central Gaza in a constant search for safety.
(Anadolu, PC)
