Philippe Lazzarini posted on social media saying that aid distribution “has become a death trap,” citing reports from international medical staff on the ground and local health authorities who reported at least 31 deaths and more than 150 injured as civilians were lining up to receive aid from the Israel...
According to the agency, heavily armed personnel entered the schools in Shu’fat refugee camp on Thursday while classes were in session, forcing more than 550 Palestinian girls and boys – some as young as six – out of their classrooms. One UNRWA staff member was detained, and all of the...
“Palestinian journalists continue to do heroic work, paying a heavy price; 170 have been killed to date,” said UNRWA Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini. “The free flow of information and independent reporting are key to facts and accountability during conflicts.” In his appeal, Mr. Lazzarini noted that in the more than 18 months...
Mr. Lazzarini made the remarks in a social media post, in which he noted that the siege, which is preventing food, medicines, water and fuel from entering the occupied Palestinian territory, has lasted longer than blockades imposed during the first phase of the war. The UNRWA chief pointed out that people...
Agency chief Philippe Lazzarini said that Israeli forces and personnel from the Jerusalem local authority “forcefully entered” the Kalandia Training Centre and ordered its immediate evacuation. “At least 350 students and 30 staff were present and impacted. Tear gas and sound bombs were fired,” Mr. Lazzarini explained. The development comes...
In a social media post on Friday, Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini said that “people in Gaza have undergone systematic dehumanization” since the war there began. He emphasized that “Palestinians do matter, including those in Gaza. Their rights, lives and futures matter,” noting that “human rights cannot be applied selectively.” His comments...
UNRWA’s communications director Juliette Touma described catastrophic scenes at the camp, where some 100 buildings had been “destroyed or heavily damaged” by the detonations at the weekend. The camp’s residents had “endured the impossible”, she said, after nearly two months of “unceasing and escalating violence” linked to the Israeli military...
It comes a day after Israeli Security Forces (ISF) carried out a series of controlled detonations at the Jenin refugee camp, located in the northern West Bank, destroying large areas there “in a split second”. UNRWA said it received no prior warning of the explosions “as contact between staff and...
If implemented, the two new laws passed in October will simultaneously prohibit Israeli authorities from contacting UNRWA and ban the agency from operating in war-ravaged Gaza and East Jerusalem and the West Bank, according to UNRWA spokesperson Jonathan Fowler. As such, poised to change are Israel’s role as the occupying...
The development came as more than 462,000 people are estimated to have crossed from south Gaza to the north since the opening of the Salah ad Din and Al Rashid roads on Monday. The UN and humanitarian partners are assisting those on the move by providing water, high-energy biscuits and...
“UNRWA continues to deliver assistance and services to the communities we serve,” the agency said in a post on the social media platform X. “Our clinics across the occupied West Bank including East Jerusalem are open while the humanitarian operation in Gaza continues.” No official word Last October, the Israeli...
Briefing ambassadors in New York on Tuesday, UNRWA Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini warned that the laws passed in October last year in the Knesset jeopardize the lives of millions of Palestinians and risks undermining the fragile ceasefire in Gaza. They require that UNRWA cease its activities in the territory of the...