Philippe Lazzarini, the Commissioner-General of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), has called on Arab countries to renew their solidarity with the agency by providing necessary funding and political support. This support is vital for the agency to fulfill its commitments.
Speaking at the 162nd session of the Council of the League of Arab States at the level of Arab Foreign Ministers, Lazzarini highlighted the extensive humanitarian suffering experienced in the Gaza Strip over the past 11 months due to ongoing displacement and the outbreak of diseases such as polio, rendering the area barely livable with two million people still trapped there. He described how the entire population in the Gaza Strip resides in about 10% of the total area, living in dire conditions alongside rats, snakes, and scorpions.
Lazzarini also noted that 600,000 students in Gaza are unable to attend school due to the ongoing Israeli war on the sector. Despite these challenges, UNRWA has continued to provide aid to millions of Palestinians in Gaza and sustain vaccination campaigns.
He emphasized the need not to grow accustomed to the Israeli war on Gaza and not to divert attention from the Palestinians’ suffering. Lazzarini commended the Arab states for their financial and diplomatic support at the start of the Gaza crisis, which included $200 billion in funding, aiding UNRWA’s humanitarian operations in Gaza by providing goods, humanitarian aid, and necessary vaccines to halt the spread of polio.
Lazzarini pointed out that UNRWA has been under constant attack in Gaza, with 240 staff members killed and more than two-thirds of its facilities attacked, impacting the agency’s operations. He described the Israeli Knesset’s designation of UNRWA as a terrorist organization as unprecedented and troubling, highlighting that it undermines the aid provided to Palestinians and affects political resolutions.
He stressed the international community’s need to reject attempts to stop UNRWA, supporting the agency to restore its reputation and trust.
