Philippe Lazzarini, the commissioner-general of the United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA, has warned that the situation in Gaza is “deteriorating very, very quickly”, more than a week after Israel again halted all supplies from entering the Gaza Strip.
“Whatever the intent is, it’s clearly a weaponisation of humanitarian aid into Gaza,” Lazzarini told reporters at UN offices in Geneva on Monday.
“It is critical that humanitarian aid is allowed into Gaza again to maintain the progress made during the first phase of the ceasefire and meet people’s basic needs,” he said, adding that there remains a risk of returning to the “deepening hunger” seen before the recent ceasefire.
Lazzarini heads up UNRWA, which has been mandated by the UN General Assembly to provide assistance to Palestinians, in Palestine and neighbouring countries, since December 1949.
The agency provides schooling and healthcare services, and could only be replaced by “capable Palestinian institutions” within “a Palestinian state”, Lazzarini has repeatedly said, amid his agency being banned by the Israeli government.
Lazzarini told journalists that “a fierce disinformation campaign”, legislation outlawing UNRWA in Israel’s parliament and “the suspension of funding by key donors” have taken a toll on the agency.
He warned that UNRWA cannot be allowed to “implode”.
“Collapse would create a dangerous vacuum in the occupied Palestinian territory and send shockwaves through Jordan, Lebanon and Syria,” Lazzarini said.
“An environment in which children are deprived of education, and people lack access to basic services, is fertile ground for exploitation and extremism,” he said.
“This is a threat to peace and stability in the region and beyond.”
The agency’s financial situation is also “critical and precarious”, Lazzarini added.
Prior to January 26, 2024, the United States was UNRWA’s largest funder.
Following accusations from Israel, the administration of former US President Joe Biden cut its contributions to UNRWA entirely, promising it would continue to provide aid to the Gaza Strip through alternative UN agencies, such as the World Food Programme, and non-government organisations.
However, according to The Times of Israel, US funding for Gaza’s relief efforts may have been caught up in US President Donald Trump’s administration’s sweeping cuts to the US Agency for International Development (USAID).
While it is not clear exactly which USAID programmes are being cut, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio wrote in a post on X on Monday that “after a 6 week review we are officially cancelling 83 percent of the programs at USAID”.
The Trump administration had initially said that the only exceptions to the cuts would be aid programmes in Israel and Egypt.
Rubio is currently in Saudi Arabia, where he discussed Gaza reconstruction efforts with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman on Monday, according to the US State Department.
Saudi Arabia is one of dozens of countries to have voiced support for a $53bn Egypt-led plan to rebuild Gaza as an alternative to Trump’s plan to forcibly displace all Palestinians from the Strip.
The rebuilding Gaza plan is among many factors being considered by negotiators from Israel and Hamas and mediators from Egypt, Qatar and the US at talks aimed at reviving the ceasefire agreement, which has stalled after Israel refused to enter into the second phase of the deal.
Hamas on Monday said that Israel has also failed to live up to its side of the agreement by refusing to withdraw its troops from the border area between Gaza and Egypt, known as the Philadelphi Corridor, and preventing outside aid from reaching Gaza directly.