UNRWA Commissioner-General: Gaza war has become an endless nightmare

The Commissioner-General of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) Philippe Lazzarini said that after almost a year the Gaza war has become an “endless nightmare”, adding that the Strip has become “unlivable”.

At a press conference in Geneva on Monday, Lazzarini said that Gazans face disease, death and hunger, with “mountains of garbage” and sewage filling the streets, and are now “trapped in 10 per cent of the land” after being constantly on the move “in search of a safety they never found”.

The Commissioner-General of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) noted that the families of many of the hostages still held in Gaza are “trapped in a state of terrible uncertainty”.

The Commissioner-General highlighted the plight of children – who represent half of Gaza’s population – as they bear the brunt of the war, going through “a profound, ongoing traumatic experience, and losing hope for a better future”.

He said that during his meetings with Member States in New York and Geneva, he had asked them to make education a collective priority beyond life-saving activities, adding that UNRWA had already started a month ago, despite the unusual and complex environment, to return some children to a learning environment.

“We must never forget that the one asset that has never been taken away from the Palestinians is education. They have been deprived of a number of things over the past decades, but not education. Education was essentially their source of pride,” he added.

‘A silent tragedy’

Mr. Lazzarini said that a “silent tragedy” was unfolding in the West Bank, where security operations had led to widespread destruction of public infrastructure, “which has de facto resulted in collective punishment of the population.”

Regarding the situation in Lebanon, Philippe Lazzarini noted that UNRWA was providing shelter to 3,500 people in nine different locations to date, including Lebanese, Syrians and Palestinians.

Smear campaign

The Commissioner-General also raised with member states “the ongoing assault on the agency,” noting that 223 UNRWA staff have been killed so far and two-thirds of its facilities in Gaza have been damaged or destroyed.

He also referred to the legislative effort in the Knesset to expel UNRWA from its headquarters in East Jerusalem and revoke its privileges, as well as to label the agency a “terrorist organization.” “I think it would be absolutely unconscionable for a UN member state to decide to label a UN agency — with a mandate from the UN General Assembly — as a terrorist organization,” he said. “It would go far beyond UNRWA. It would set a precedent that would certainly weaken an important instrument of our multilateral system.”

Shortsightedness

The UN official said he did not believe this had anything to do with issues of neutrality, which the agency took very seriously and continues to take seriously. The real reason, he said, was to strip the Palestinians of their refugee status and “unilaterally change the parameters for a political solution in the region.”

“I think it is short-sighted to think that dismantling the agency would solve the broader issues of Palestinian refugees, such as the right of return. Because the right of return, or the compensation system within a political solution for those who decide not to return, is enshrined in a resolution that was adopted long before UNRWA was established. In resolution 194,” he added.

He called on member states to protect UNRWA’s role in the transition in Gaza, explaining: “If we finally achieve a ceasefire, which is already overdue, there will be a long period between the ceasefire and the next possible day.”

He said that only UNRWA could provide education on a large scale to hundreds of thousands of girls and boys in the Gaza Strip. He also called on member states to push back against all “attacks on the agency’s reputation, especially the draft laws that are being drafted and could be adopted in Jerusalem, and to ensure that such a precedent is not set.”

Mr. Lazzarini added that UNRWA still faces a significant funding shortfall between now and the end of the year, and the outlook for next year “looks a bit bleak because a number of donors have indicated that they will be entering an austerity budget from 2025.”

The Fatah Sharif case

In response to questions about the case of former UNRWA employee Fatah Sharif, who was reportedly a Hamas leader in Lebanon and was killed in an Israeli airstrike, Mr. Lazzarini said that the allegations against Fatah Sharif were first made in March, and that UNRWA had taken immediate action at the time to suspend him without pay pending an investigation, which was still ongoing.

He said the allegation against him was that he was part of the local Hamas leadership, adding that the word leader had never appeared. “I had never heard the word leader before you asked me, or before the statement was issued today. So that was not part of the allegations,” he said.

Mr. Lazzarini said that UNRWA, as a human development agency, has no police or intelligence capabilities and always shares the names of its staff. “If this information is known to everyone, why didn’t anyone tell us? I think what is clear today was not clear yesterday,” he asked. The Commissioner-General said he expected UNRWA – like any other agency that respects the rule of law – to follow all due process and then make a final decision at the end of that process.