Gazans in uncertainty and fear of Israeli attacks, Lazzarini
UNRA’s Commissioner General has said while talking to journalists in Geneva that if Israel attacks Rafah, there is a fear of a large number of civilian deaths because at that time about 1.5 million people took shelter in this small area. According to local medical officials, more than 100,000 Palestinians in Gaza have been killed and wounded in the war since October. Philippe Lazzarini said that it is not possible to relocate the millions of people gathered in Rafah once again.
No place in this 20 km strip is devoid of refugees. As a result of bombing and attacks on this area, the loss of life will increase further. On the allegations of working for Hamas on some of the UNRA staff members, he said that the organization had immediately dismissed all such people from their jobs and started an investigation against them. In this matter, the authorities of Israel will also have to cooperate with UNRA.
The Commissioner General said that the Secretary General’s review of allegations related to the use of social media, Gaza tunnels, and political affiliations against the agency’s officials is starting tomorrow. It will also look at how proactively the organization has acted on such allegations. In two months this review will be completed.
The investigation should also examine allegations by the Israeli military that a tunnel and information center 20 meters deep beneath the UNRA headquarters in Gaza City is being used by Hamas. Earlier, Israel’s permanent ambassador to the United Nations in Geneva, Merav Alon Shahar, said that his government does not want to harm civilians in Gaza and wants cooperation in the UNRA investigation.
However, his war against the terrorist organization Hamas will continue. He said that his country’s war is not against the Palestinian people but against Hamas and there are alternatives to UNRA to help the citizens. Lazzarini, however, rejected that, saying it would be extremely damaging to shut down the agency at a time when UN aid officials and NGOs are calling for increased aid to Gaza.
He also said that it is also important to review all such incidents in which UN centers were targeted by attacks. Since the start of the war on October 7, 150 such places have been attacked. Some of these centers were completely destroyed and hundreds of people were killed and thousands were injured. All such incidents, along with allegations related to the tunnel, should also be investigated impartially.
Philippe Lazzarini said that there is an urgent need to restore the education of 500,000 teenage girls and boys in Gaza. This task will not be the task of a new local administration and no other UN agency or NGO in the region has the experience of providing government-like services, including education to millions of children.
He said that if any positive change is required in the future, the international community must have an instrument like UNRA to make it possible.
