There is no alternative to the United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) in the occupied Palestinian territories, its head said Monday. This even though Israel has decided to ban it.
‘There is no plan B within the United Nations family, because there is no other agency capable of providing the same activities,’ explained the UNRWA commissioner general, the Swiss Philippe Lazzarini, during a press conference in Geneva.
‘If you talk about bringing a truck with food, you certainly find an alternative,’ but ‘the answer is no’ when it comes to education and primary health, he added.
In October, the Knesset, the Israeli Parliament, decided to prohibit UNRWA from operating on Israeli soil and from coordinating with Israeli authorities. Both laws will take effect 90 days after their adoption, according to the Knesset.
No explanation from Israel
Mr. Lazzarini explained that the agency he heads has “not received official communication on how Israel intends” to implement the ban.
He calls on the international community to act to prevent these laws from being applied. But if they are implemented, ‘this means that we will no longer be able to operate in Gaza, (…) coordinate our movements, carry out deconfliction and therefore the environment will have to be much too dangerous’.
For UNRWA staff, there is a fear of job insecurity, but beyond that, there is a real fear that any of them could be… . arrested,’ he said.
Accusations without evidence
Israeli authorities have long been very critical of the UN agency. Their relations became execrable after the start of the war in Gaza: Israel accused UNRWA employees of having participated in the attack perpetrated on its soil on October 7, 2023 by the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas.
According to the UN, Israel has never provided evidence to support these claims. Only doubts concerning nine Unrwa employees led to the dismissal of these people.
/ATS
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