UNRWA Head Philippe Lazzarini at a press conference in Geneva, Feb. 13, 2024. (Credit: Fabrice Coffrini/AFP)
Israel is waging a concerted campaign to destroy the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA), said Head of UNRWA Philippe Lazzarini in an interview published on Saturday.
"At the moment, we are facing an extensive and concerted campaign led by Israel, which aims to destroy UNRWA," Lazzarini told the Swiss newspaper group Tamedia, also believing that Israel's demand for his resignation fell within this framework.
"It's a long-term political goal because they think that if the agency is abolished, the question of the status of Palestinian refugees will be resolved once and for all, and with it, the right of return. There's a much broader political agenda behind this," he added.
Created in 1949 to look after Palestinian refugees following the first Arab-Israeli war, UNRWA is the main humanitarian aid organization in the Gaza Strip, which is in the grip of a serious humanitarian crisis due to the war.
Several countries, including the United States, Great Britain, Germany and Japan, have suspended their funding of UNRWA, following Israeli accusations that the UN agency has 12 of its 13,000 employees in the Gaza Strip implicated in the Hamas attack of Oct. 7.
"Just look at the number of actions Israel has taken against UNRWA", said Lazzarini, referring to the order given to companies operating in the Israeli port of Ashdod to "stop unloading certain food deliveries destined for UNRWA."
According to Lazzarini, more than 150 UNWRA facilities have been affected since the war began over four months ago.
Israel asked Lazzarini to resign after he claimed that one of the tunnels used by the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas had been discovered under the agency's Gaza headquarters.
Lazzarini explained that the tunnel was 20 meters underground and that UNRWA, as a humanitarian organization, had no way of discovering the existence of a facility at such a depth.
Israel's criticism "is not aimed at me personally, but at the whole organization. These calls for my resignation are part of a campaign to destroy UNRWA."
According to him, some 438 million dollars — more than half the income expected for 2024 — has been frozen.
"If all countries continue to suspend their payments, UNRWA's funding will soon be in serious jeopardy," he warned.
"From March onwards, expenditure exceeds income. And without new donors, UNRWA will have to cease operations in April."
He said this applied to the Gaza Strip, but also to activities in the West Bank, Syria, Jordan and Lebanon.
Lazzarini said that he was meeting with donors and that some of them were "ready to reconsider their decision." He said that the European Commission would resume its contribution of around 82 million euros in March.
The war began with the Hamas attack on Israel on Oct. 7, when Hamas commandos infiltrating from Gaza killed more than 1,160 people in Israel, according to an AFP count based on official Israeli data.
Israel has vowed to wipe out Hamas, which has been in power in Gaza since 2007, in retaliation. The Israeli offensive in Gaza has claimed 28,775 lives, mainly women and children, according to Gaza's health ministry.