THE HEAD OF the United Nations’ agency for Palestinian refugees has warned that he expects staff in Gaza will be killed and that the organisation is “hanging on by our fingertips”.
At least 70% of UNRWA staff are displaced and lack food, water and adequate shelter, according to Commissioner General Philippe Lazzarini.
Israeli forces are bombarding Gaza’s main cities today, continuing weeks of attacks that have killed more than 17,000 people, mostly women and children.
Lazzarini has written to the President of the UN General Assembly at what he described as the “darkest hour in the agency’s 75-year history”.
Nearly 1.2 million civilians are sheltering in UNRWA premises and it is the primary provider of humanitarian assistance to over 2.2 million people.
However, it is “on the verge of collapse”.
“UNRWA is, as of today, still operational in Gaza, though just barely.
“Our staff are still operating health centers, managing shelters, and supporting traumatized people, some arriving carrying their dead children. We are still distributing food, even though the corridors and courtyards of our premises are too crowded to walk through. Our staff take their children to work so they know they are safe or can die together.
More than 130 UNRWA staff are confirmed killed in bombardments, most with their families; the number might rise by the time you read this.
“We are hanging on by our fingertips. If UNRWA collapses, humanitarian assistance in Gaza will also collapse.”
In my 35 years of work in complex emergencies, I never have expected to write such a letter, predicting the killing of my staff & the collapse of the mandate I am expected to fulfill #Gaza pic.twitter.com/b2S9WAapCt
— Philippe Lazzarini (@UNLazzarini) December 8, 2023
Lazzarini said the humanitarian situation is now “untenable” and called on the Assembly to “implement an immediate humanitarian ceasefire; enforce international law, including the protection of civilians and UN staff, as well as UN premises, hospitals and public buildings that provide safe shelter from attacks, disease, deprivation and indignity; and protect prospects for a political solution that is vital to peace, security and rights for Palestinians, Israelis and the region”.
“In my 35 years working in complex emergencies, I have never written such a letter – predicting the killing of my staff and the collapse of the mandate I am expected to fulfill.”
Lazzarini detailed the “appalling” conditions being endured by the people of Gaza.
“This week, the Israeli military forces have instructed people to move further South, forcing Gaza’s population into an ever-shrinking space. Shelters are shockingly overcrowded, with high risk of epidemic illness,” Lazzarini described.
“In these overfull and unsanitary spaces, more than 700 people use a single toilet, women give birth (an average of 25 per day), and people nurse open wounds. Tens of thousands sleep in courtyards and streets. People burn plastic to stay warm,” he said.
“Nearly 90 UNRWA premises, including schools, have been hit or impacted by munitions, killing over 270 internally displaced people, many this week. In Gaza as a whole, over 16,000 people, two thirds of whom are women and children, are reported killed during bombardments.”
He said that “large swathes of Gaza are destroyed and uninhabitable”.
“The premise of UNRWA’s mandate – to provide services to Palestine Refugees until there is a political solution – is at great risk: without safe shelter and aid, civilians in Gaza risk death or will be forced to Egypt and beyond.
“Forced displacement out of Gaza may end prospects for the political solution that is intrinsic to UNRWA’s mandate, with grave risks for regional peace and security. A forced displacement beyond Palestinian land, reminiscent of the 1948 Nakba, must be prevented.”
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