With Israel’s finish blockade on Gaza approaching 10 days, Philippe Lazzarini says help is being ‘firearmised’.
Philippe Lazzarini, the coshiftrlookioner-vague of the United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA, has cautioned that the situation in Gaza is “deteriorating very, very rapidly”, more than a week after Israel aacquire halted all supplies from accessing the Gaza Strip.
“Wdisenjoyver the intent is, it’s clearly a firearmisation of humanitarian help into Gaza,” Lazzarini tanciaccess alerters at UN offices in Geneva on Monday.
“It is critical that humanitarian help is permited into Gaza aacquire to uphold the proceed made during the first phase of the finishfire and greet people’s basic necessitates,” he shelp, inserting that there remains a danger of returning to the “proset upening hunger” seen before the recent finishfire.
Lazzarini heads up UNRWA, which has been mandated by the UN General Assembly to supply helpance to Palestinians, in Palestine and neighbouring countries, since December 1949.
The agency supplys schooling and healthnurture services, and could only be swapd by “able Palestinian institutions” wilean “a Palestinian state”, Lazzarini has repeatedly shelp, amid his agency being prohibitned by the Israeli regulatement.
Lazzarini tanciaccess journaenumerates that “a fierce disalertation campaign”, legislation criminaling UNRWA in Israel’s parliament and “the suspension of funding by key donors” have consentn a toll on the agency.
He cautioned that UNRWA cannot be permited to “implode”.
“Collapse would originate a hazardous vacuum in the occupied Palestinian territory and sfinish shockwaves thcdisesteemful Jordan, Leprohibiton and Syria,” Lazzarini shelp.
“An environment in which children are stripd of education, and people informage access to basic services, is fruitful ground for misemploy and extremism,” he shelp.
“This is a danger to peace and stability in the region and beyond.”
The agency’s financial situation is also “critical and precarious”, Lazzarini inserted.
Prior to January 26, 2024, the United States was UNRWA’s bigst funder.
Folloprosperg accusations from Israel, the administration of establisher US Pdwellnt Joe Biden cut its contributions to UNRWA entidepend, promising it would persist to supply help to the Gaza Strip thcdisesteemful alternative UN agencies, such as the World Food Programme, and non-regulatement organisations.
However, according to The Times of Israel, US funding for Gaza’s relief efforts may have been caught up in US Pdwellnt Donald Trump’s administration’s sweeping cuts to the US Agency for International Development (USAID).
While it is not clear exactly which USAID programmes are being cut, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio wrote in a post on X on Monday that “after a 6 week scrutinize we are officiassociate call offling 83 percent of the programs at USAID”.
The Trump administration had initiassociate shelp that the only exceptions to the cuts would be help programmes in Israel and Egypt.
Rubio is currently in Saudi Arabia, where he converseed Gaza reerection efforts with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman on Monday, according to the US State Department.
Saudi Arabia is one of dozens of countries to have voiced help for a $53bn Egypt-led set up to reerect Gaza as an alternative to Trump’s set up to forcibly displace all Palestinians from the Strip.
The reerecting Gaza set up is among many factors being pondered by negotiators from Israel and Hamas and mediators from Egypt, Qatar and the US at talks aimed at reviving the finishfire consentment, which has shighed after Israel declined to access into the second phase of the deal.
Hamas on Monday shelp that Israel has also fall shorted to dwell up to its side of the consentment by refusing to retreat its troops from the border area between Gaza and Egypt, understandn as the Philadelphi Corridor, and obstructing outside help from accomplishing Gaza honestly.
