UNRWA Archives - Page 2 of 4

UNRWA chief: Ceasefire is the start, not the solution

·January 20, 2025·2 min read

Speaking to reporters at UN Headquarters in New York, Mr. Lazzarini emphasised that the agreement is only the first step in addressing the region’s overwhelming humanitarian challenges. He joined UN Secretary-General António Guterres in urging all parties to fully implement the ceasefire and ensure unrestricted humanitarian access to meet urgent...

UNRWA chief renews call for probe into attacks on humanitarians in Gaza

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·December 31, 2024·4 min read

Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini made the appeal in a statement posted on the social media platform X, formerly Twitter. He noted that 15 months after the war began in Gaza, “horrors continue unabated under the world’s watch”. 258 UNRWA staff killed Citing latest information from his teams, Mr. Lazzarini said that 258...

UN General Assembly demands Gaza ceasefire and hostage release, affirms ‘full support’ for UNRWA

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·December 13, 2024·3 min read

The actions were taken at the Assembly’s resumed 10th emergency special session, following the failure of the Security Council to adopt a resolution demanding such a ceasefire and full hostage release. Despite securing 14 votes in favour, that text put forward by the 10 elected members of the Council, failed...

Gaza: ‘People losing hope’ as aid access is refused to north, warns UNRWA

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·November 13, 2024·2 min read

Briefing reporters in Geneva from central Gaza, UNRWA senior emergency officer Louise Wateridge warned that amid looming famine in the Gaza Strip and as winter approaches, those forcibly displaced are sleeping on the floor in makeshift shelters surrounded by sewage. “We are extremely concerned when the rains come to the...

Middle East crisis: Live updates as General Assembly meets on UNRWA and more

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·November 7, 2024·1 min read

Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini made an impassioned plea to protect the UN agency for Palestine refugees at the General Assembly’s meeting on UNRWA’s fate days after Israel informed the world body of new laws to ban it as bombings and displacement continued on Wednesday across Gaza and Lebanon, with UN officials...

Aid restrictions and dismantling UNRWA will compound Gazans’ suffering

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·November 5, 2024·3 min read

The Israeli Parliament, known as the Knesset, recently approved two laws banning UNRWA from operating in its territory and prohibiting officials from having any contact with the agency. Israel has officially informed the President of the UN General Assembly of the adoption of the new legislation. The letter says all...

Potentially ‘deadly’ consequences could arise from Israel’s UNRWA ban: UNICEF

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·November 4, 2024·4 min read

The Israeli Parliament, known as the Knesset, adopted two bills on Monday banning UN Palestine refugee agency UNRWA from operating in its territory and prohibiting authorities from having any contact with it. “UNRWA is indispensable in delivering the urgent, life-saving assistance that 2.2 million people in Gaza urgently need,” UNICEF...

Israeli laws blocking UNRWA – devastating humanitarian impact for Palestinians?

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·October 31, 2024·5 min read

What do the laws say? The bills, approved overwhelmingly by Israeli parliamentarians (92 in favour, 10 against) on Monday, would prohibit the country’s authorities from having any contact with UNRWA, and bar the agency from operating within Israel itself. The passage of aid into Gaza and the West Bank requires close...

Stories from the UN Archive: What UNRWA built

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·October 31, 2024·2 min read

UNRWA was established by UN Member States in 1949 to carry out direct relief and development programmes for Palestinian people who lost their homes following the 1948 Arab-Israeli war. UN Photo has curated a collection from its archive that follows the agency’s critical work since it began operating throughout the...

Middle East crisis: Live updates on UNRWA, Gaza and more

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·October 30, 2024·1 min read

Our live coverage ranged from the Security Council and UN Headquarters to dispatches from across the Middle East as tensions escalated and the war on Gaza and Lebanon continued in the shadows of a new Israeli ban on UNRWA, the agency serving nearly six million Palestine refugees in the region....

UNRWA cannot be replaced, say UN top officials in response to Knesset ban

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·October 29, 2024·2 min read

Echoing UN Secretary-General António Guterres’s warning late Monday that the development would likely have “devastating consequences” as UNRWA is the principal deliverer of aid relief inside the war-torn enclave, UN human rights chief Volker Türk called the Knesset move “deeply troubling for many reasons”. In Geneva, spokesperson for the UN...

World News in Brief: UNRWA staffer killed in Gaza, Central African Republic update, terror in Türkiye, journalists face financial reprisals

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·October 23, 2024·3 min read

“We can confirm that an UNRWA vehicle has been hit in Deir Al-Balah,” a spokesperson confirmed. “So far, we have reports one UNRWA staff member was killed.” Since the deadly Hamas-led invasion of Israel a year ago triggered the ongoing war, almost 48,000 people in Gaza have been killed during...