NEW YORK (Dispatches) – The head of the UN’s main relief agency in Gaza (UNRWA) has warned that an “insidious campaign” is underway to end the operations of the UN body, warning of “serious implications for international peace and security”.
UNRWA Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini told the UN Security Council that the agency was being “denied permission to deliver this aid and save lives”.
UNRWA has been under fire since the Zionist regime alleged that some of its employees were involved in the October 7 Hamas operation. The occupying regime has long campaigned for UNRWA, the main distributor of aid in Gaza, to be disbanded. Israel has also banned UNRWA from operating in Gaza’s north.
More than a dozen countries pulled funding for UNRWA after the allegations, some of which have resumed donations.
“Dismantling UNRWA will have lasting repercussions. In the short-term, it will deepen the humanitarian crisis in Gaza and accelerate the onset of famine,” Lazzarini said.
“In the longer-term, it will jeopardize the transition from ceasefire to ‘day after’ by depriving a traumatized population of essential services.”
Lazzarini added children were “bearing the brunt of this war”, with more than 17,000 separated from their families and “left to face the horror of Gaza alone.”
He also warned that “a man-made famine is tightening its grip” across Gaza.
“Across the border, food and clean water wait. But UNRWA is denied permission to deliver this aid and save lives,” Lazzarini said.
“This outrage is occurring despite consecutive orders by the International Court of Justice to increase the flow of aid into Gaza – which can be done if there is sufficient political will,” he added, calling on the council to “make a difference”.
Meanwhile, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres says the Zionist regime’s war on Gaza has turned the besieged strip into a “humanitarian hellscape,” warning of a wider regional war.
“In Gaza, six and a half months of Israeli military operations have created a humanitarian hellscape,” Guterres said Thursday.
He also reiterated his call for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, and stressed that Israel must allow more aid into the hunger-stalked territory.
Israel launched the war on Gaza on October 7 after the Palestinian resistance movement Hamas waged the surprise Operation Al-Aqsa Storm against the occupying entity in response to the Israeli intensified violence against Palestinians.
Tel Aviv has also blocked water, food, and electricity to Gaza, plunging the coastal strip into a humanitarian crisis.
Also on Thursday, the UN chief warned that one wrong move could see the West Asia region devolve into a wider war.
“The Middle East is on a precipice,” Guterres said.