News - Middle East: The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) has complained of significant Zionist pressures to halt its operations in the Gaza Strip. The agency highlighted its inability to deliver aid to northern Gaza despite recent International Court of Justice rulings calling on Tel Aviv to increase aid.

"The agency is facing an Israeli campaign to push it out of the occupied Palestinian territories and prevent it from carrying out its humanitarian mission," Philippe Lazzarini, the UNRWA Commissioner-General, stated in a briefing to the UN Security Council last night.  "Israel is seeking to terminate our agency's work and has rejected repeated requests from us to deliver aid to northern Gaza."

“But UNRWA is denied permission to deliver this aid and save lives. This outrage is occurring despite consecutive orders by the International Court of Justice (ICJOpens in new window) to increase the flow of aid into Gaza – which can be done if there is the political will”, he added.

He also pointed out that "several countries continue to suspend funding for the agency, undermining our financial stability," and called on Security Council members to preserve UNRWA's humanitarian role.

Lazzarini warned in his briefing that "the dismantling of the agency would have consequences including deepening the humanitarian crisis and accelerating famine in Gaza," in addition to "serious effects on international peace and security."

He also warned of the dire situation in Gaza amid the Israeli war. Children have begun to die of malnutrition and dehydration, he said, while food and clean water are just across the border.

Furthermore, he noted that "many homes, schools, and hospitals in Gaza have been turned into rubble under which lie countless bodies."

He also complained of violations committed by "Israel" against the agency and its employees in Gaza, noting that Israeli forces had occupied UNRWA's facilities in the Gaza Strip.

He pointed to the targeting of 178 agency employees and the complete or partial destruction of more than 160 of its premises in the Gaza Strip since the start of Israel's war on it, continuing, "One of our employees, who was arrested by the Israeli authorities, has provided horrific testimonies about the mistreatment and torture he suffered."

Lazzarini concluded that Israel has turned Gaza into an "indistinct area," demanding "an independent investigation and accountability for the blatant disregard of the protected status of humanitarian workers in Gaza."

Since October 7, the Israeli army has waged a devastating war on Gaza, resulting in tens of thousands of martyrs and wounded, most of them children and women, prompting calls for Tel Aviv to be tried before the ICJ on charges of "genocide."