Lazzarini said only a Palestinian state institution could take over the vital services UNRWA provides [Getty]
The head of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees on Monday rejected Israel’s assertion that other organisations could replace it in Gaza, insisting that only a Palestinian state “institution” could take over.
Israel has banned UNRWA from operating in Gaza and agency chief Philippe Lazzarini hit back after Israel’s ambassador Daniel Meron told reporters that his country was “working to find substitutes to the work of UNRWA inside Gaza”.
Israel was actively “encouraging UN agencies and NGOs to take over,” he said.
Lazzarini told reporters that UNRWA was still “it can’t be an NGO, it can’t be another UN agency”.
“The only viable alternative is capable Palestinian institutions…in a Palestinian state.”
For more than seven decades, the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees has provided aid and assistance to Palestinian refugees across the Middle East
The UN says the ban would hamper vital services delivered by the agency in Gaza, which has been ravaged by 15 months of war.
UNRWA is “continuing to operate in Gaza. We are continuing to operate in the West Bank”, Lazzarini said.
The agency said Sunday that since January it had “delivered food assistance to the entire population of the Gaza Strip”. It also carried out “over 412,000 health consultations and reached more than half a million people with shelter and non-food items”.
‘More vulnerable’
Lazzarini stressed the Israeli ban meant the agency was facing “serious operational challenges”, and warned that agency staff “feel much more vulnerable” without the ability to coordinate with the Israeli military.
UN agencies and other aid organisations have repeatedly said that UNRWA could not be replaced. The agency is also the main provider of basic public services in Gaza, including education and social services for registered refugees.
Meron said Israel was urging other specialist organisations to step in. For instance, he said, the UN’s World Food Programme could deal with food, while “others deal with other issues”.
“There has been serious work… with the different agencies and making sure that the people of Gaza will not suffer because of the this… switch from UNRWA to other agencies,” he said.
Lazzarini acknowledged that if the only objective is to “bring trucks into Gaza” to address the humanitarian crisis caused by the war, others could step in.
But he insisted that UNRWA’s role was far broader.
“When it comes to the acute humanitarian emergency, yes of course you will find other NGOs and UN agencies who could scale up,” he said.
“The real question is, who will provide primary health? Who will provide education?”
