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France 24 spoke with Philippe Lazzarini, commissioner general of the United Nations Agency for Palestinian Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA). Lazzarini expressed his concern about the war in the Gaza Strip and the high number of displaced people and fatalities left by the ongoing war between the Israeli Army and the Hamas group. The UN official also highlighted the importance of protecting civilians, for which he noted that he hopes that Israel “strictly respects International Humanitarian Law” to avoid further human losses in this conflict.
Lazzarini stated that he hoped that “lessons will be learned” from the first phase of the Israeli offensive and that “Israel will strictly respect International Humanitarian Law” after the resumption of attacks, after the end of the truce between the parties that lasted seven days.
When asked about the US proposal to create “safe zones” for civilians, he responded that this was unworkable and noted that “a large number of people” have been killed in southern Gaza, even though Israel describes that zone as safe and urges people to go there.
Lazzarini accused Israel of not respecting International Humanitarian Law in Gaza. He noted that 10,000 women and children have been killed since October 7, “equivalent to more than two years of civilian deaths in the Ukraine war.” “This figure cannot be collateral (damage) and we hope that the rule of law is more strictly respected. “Here we are talking about the notion of proportionality and distinction,” he added.
The commissioner general of UNRWA denied any shelter for Hamas militants by his organization, as pointed out by the Israeli Army, which under these statements justifies the attacks against these infrastructures.
Asked about a report by Israel’s ‘Channel 13’, which alleged that a recently released hostage was detained for 50 days by a teacher at a UNRWA school, Lazzarini agreed that this allegation would be very worrying if true, but He indicated that so far there is “absolutely no other information” about this beyond a tweet.
When asked if some UNRWA workers were sympathetic to Hamas, Lazzarini responded that UNRWA sends an annual list of its staff to Israel and that Tel Aviv has never had any objections. Furthermore, he promised that the UN agency will not abandon Gaza, as the Palestinians would consider this “a betrayal” by the international community.
Finally, Lazzarini called on world leaders to make the two-state solution a priority “once and for all” to provide a solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
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