Limiting aid and dismantling UNRWA will increase the suffering of the people of Gaza
The Israeli parliament, or Knesset, recently passed two banning laws UNRWA operate on its territory and prohibit officials from having any contact with the agency.
Israel has officially notified the President of the United Nations General Assembly about the adoption of the new law. The letter said all cooperation with the agency would end after 90 days.
Record low aid levels
UNRWA Commissioner General Philippe Lazzarini said on Monday that last month, Israel authorized one On average, 30 humanitarian trucks arrive in Gaza every dayonly 6% of the commercial and humanitarian supplies permitted to be imported before the war.
“This is the lowest level in a long time, bringing support back to the level it was at the start of the war,” he said. wrote on social media platform X.
“This cannot meet the needs of more than two million people, many of whom are hungry, sick and in desperate situations..”
A lifeline for millions of people
He said that “in the meantime, UNRWA continues to distribute whatever is allowed in.”
Staff have delivered food aid to more than 1.9 million Gazans since war broke out last October, while hundreds of thousands of people in and around shelters have received supplies basic.
The UN agency is also the largest primary health care provider in the region and its teams have provided more than six million medical consultations.
Mr. Lazzarini emphasized the need to allow more aid into Gaza, including through UNRWA, the largest humanitarian organization and service provider there.
“Restricting humanitarian access while dismantling UNRWA will add another layer of suffering to already indescribable suffering.. Only political will can end the situation created by politics,” he said.
Children in Gaza play in a school converted into a shelter for families displaced by the conflict.
‘There is no alternative’ to UNRWA
in one previous tweetMr. Lazzarini focused on how UNRWA also educates many young Palestinians.
He said children and their education are not mentioned in discussions by “experts” or politicians as the debate over replacing the agency intensifies.
“Why? Because without a functioning State there is no alternative,” he said.
Until October last year, more than 300,000 boys and girls in Gaza – half of all students there – attended UNRWA schools, and now they are missing their second year of schooling.
Nearly 50,000 children in the West Bank also attend UNRWA schools.
Potentially dire consequences
Mr. Lazzarini explained that UNRWA is the only UN agency that directly provides educational services in UN schools. The agency operates the only system in the region that includes a human rights program that complies with United Nations standards and values.
“Dismantling UNRWA in the absence of a viable alternative would deprive Palestinian children of educational opportunities for the foreseeable future.he said.
“Without education, children fall into hopelessness, poverty and extremism. Without education, children fall into exploitation, including joining armed groups. If we do not learn, this region will continue to be unstable and volatile,” he warned.
He said that instead of focusing on banning UNRWA or finding alternatives, attention should be paid to reaching an agreement to end the conflict.
Children’s deadly weekend
In the interim, the fighting continues to take a heavy toll on the lives of young people across the Gaza Strip.
United Nations Children’s Fund, UNICEF, speak on Saturday, more than 50 boys and girls were killed in strikes in Jabalya, North Gaza, over the previous two days.
The personal car of an employee carrying out a widespread vaccination campaign for young children against polio also caught fire while she was driving, causing damage.
Additionally, at least three children were said to have been injured in another attack near a vaccination clinic in Sheikh Radwan, while a polio vaccination campaign was underway.
Risk in the North
UNICEF Director Catherine Russell said these attacks are further examples of the serious consequences of indiscriminate attacks on civilians in Gaza.
“Attacks on civilians, including humanitarian workers, as well as what remains of Gaza’s civilian facilities and infrastructure must stop,” she said.
Furthermore, she warned that “the entire Palestinian population of North Gaza, especially children, are at risk of death from disease, famine and ongoing bombardment.”
