Lazzarini: Annexation of Gaza won’t create lasting Middle East peace

“More than 100 trucks have been looted, primarily [carrying goods for] UNRWA and the WFP, basically, 80-90 per cent of the convoy on that day,” said Philippe Lazzarini, UNRWA Commissioner-General.

“What does it show? We [began] warning a long time ago about the total breakdown of civil order; until four or five months ago, we still had local capacity, people who were escorting the convoy. This has completely gone.”

According to UNRWA, the incident happened on Saturday and involved a 109-truck convoy. “The vast majority of the trucks, 97 in total, were lost and drivers were forced at gunpoint to unload aid,” it said in an online post on X.

Israel’s humanitarian responsibility

“The Israeli authorities continue to disregard their legal obligations under international law to ensure the population's basic needs are met and to facilitate the safe delivery of aid,” the UN agency insisted.

“Such responsibilities continue when trucks enter the Gaza Strip, until people are reached with essential assistance.”

In addition to ongoing deadly Israeli bombardment – including of a residential building in northern Beit Lahia at the weekend which left dozens dead, prompting strong condemnation – UNRWA said that critical shortages of flour had forced all eight UN-supported bakeries in Deir al Balah and Khan Younis to operate “at diminished capacity for weeks. Many have been forced to shut down entirely. Without immediate intervention, severe food shortages are set to worsen, further endangering the lives of over two million people who depend on humanitarian aid to survive.”

No viable alternative to UNRWA

Speaking in Geneva on the sidelines of a meeting of the Advisory Committee which is tasked with advising and assisting UNRWA in carrying out its mandate, Mr. Lazzarini reiterated his warning – echoed widely by the international community – that Israeli efforts to dismantle the agency would have terrible consequences on Gazans who rely on it for education, healthcare and livelihoods, unless a viable alternative were put in place.

“I keep being asked why is the agency irreplaceable? In fact, it is replaceable by a functioning state…if we do this and we do not have a viable alternative in place, we will create a vacuum. We will also deprive hundreds of thousands of children to the right of education, but by doing this we will also sow the seeds for more extremism, more hate in the future.”

Spanish solidarity

Echoing that message, Antón Leis, Secretary General and Executive Director of the Spanish Agency for International Cooperation and Development who chairs the Meeting of the Advisory Committee insisted that UNRWA was “irreplaceable and indispensable…for six million Palestine refugees in the Middle East - not just in Gaza - in the entire Middle East”.

Mr. Leis underscored the disinformation campaign targeting UNRWA and stressed the need to explain the agency’s crucial grassroots work across the Occupied Palestinian Territories.

“It is important also to set the record straight and explain what UNRWA does and what UNRWA does differently from other UN agencies and why - and this is a reality on the ground - why UNRWA is indispensable and irreplaceable.”

Search ordeal

Mr. Lazzarini noted that the diplomatic and political campaign against UNRWA was impacting staff on the ground, too: “We had already last week an incident where a female staff member was searched at her home by [an Israel Defense Forces] soldier and when they realized that she's working for UNRWA, basically they told her, ‘How come you work for a terrorist organization?’”

Asked what the election of Donald Trump might change, the UNRWA chief maintained the need to listen to the aspirations of Palestinians.

“We keep hearing that promoting a lasting peace is a priority and I do not see how you can promote lasting peace without addressing the question of the Palestinians in the region. So, of course, people are extremely worried that it might go in the direction of an annexation, but annexation wouldn't mean a lasting peace in the region if you haven’t addressed the question of the Palestinians.”