Israel accuses the UN agency, which has more than 30,000 employees in the region (Gaza, the West Bank, Lebanon, Jordan and Syria), of employing “more than 400 terrorists” in Gaza, including 12 employees whom Israel confirms were directly involved in the attack launched by Hamas on the 7th. From October.
These accusations prompted a number of donor countries to suspend their funding to the UN agency, although some of these countries returned and resumed their funding.
On Wednesday, Lazzarini stressed before the UN Security Council that UNRWA, which was established by the UN General Assembly in 1949, “is the backbone of humanitarian operations” in Gaza.
The Commissioner-General denounced the “treacherous” campaign targeting UNRWA with the aim of putting an end to its operations, warning that “dismantling UNRWA will have lasting repercussions.”
He explained, “In the short term, this will exacerbate the humanitarian crisis in Gaza and accelerate famine.”
Famine is already threatening the northern Gaza Strip.
Nearly 34,000 people, most of them civilians, have been killed in Gaza since the start of the Israeli attack on the Strip, according to the Hamas Ministry of Health.
The Commissioner-General of UNRWA, which runs schools and hospitals in Gaza, added: “In the long term, (dissolving the agency) will jeopardize the transition from a ceasefire to the 'next day' by depriving a traumatized population of basic services.”
He explained that this “will make the enormous task of returning nearly half a million girls and boys who suffer from suffering to education almost impossible.”
“Failure to provide education will condemn an entire generation to despair – fueling anger, resentment and endless cycles of violence,” he added.
Lazzarini also praised the 178 UNRWA employees who were killed in Gaza since the war began, and he stood with all members of the Security Council for a minute of silence to mourn the lives of all humanitarian workers who were killed since then.
Following the Israeli accusations against UNRWA, the United Nations immediately dismissed the 12 employees concerned and launched an internal investigation that is still ongoing.
At the same time, UN Secretary-General António Guterres entrusted an independent group with the task of evaluating UNRWA and its “neutrality.”
The head of this group, former French Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna, is scheduled to present her final report next Monday.
During the UN Security Council session on Wednesday, the Israeli Ambassador to the United Nations, Gilad Erdan, said that “one of the main goals of UNRWA is to indoctrinate Palestinian children with the idea that they can destroy Israel” if “millions of descendants of Palestinian refugees return.”
“It is time to stop funding UNRWA,” he said, stressing that non-governmental organizations and other UN agencies could take its place.
#Lazzarini #Dissolving #UNRWA #threatens #accelerate #famine #Gaza #fuel #cycle #violence