UNRWA Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini looks on during a press conference on the situation in Gaza at the United Nations offices in Geneva, on April 30, 2024. (Credit: Fabrice Coffrini/AFP)
BEIRUT — UNRWA's Commissioner General, Philippe Lazzarini, visited Lebanon and discussed regional developments and UNRWA's situation with Parliamentary Speaker Nabih Berri and caretaker Foreign Minister Abdallah Bou Habib on Tuesday.
According to the state-run National News Agency (NNA), Lazzarini and Bou Habib discussed the "situation of the U.N. agency and the financial challenges facing its role in meeting the needs of Palestinian refugees in Lebanon and the region, especially in light of Israel's continuous attempts to undermine its work."
Cancer patients, young students, and families are among the 250,000 Palestinians — 80 percent of whom are already living below the poverty line — who may lose access to critical services in Lebanon by March due to impending funding cuts, reported the UNRWA director in Lebanon, Dorothee Klaus, to UN News on Tuesday.
“The agency will no longer have funding as of the end of February, so that means our operations would come to a halt during March,” said Klaus, describing the “severe impact” of fresh budget cuts.
In January, several nations withheld funding to UNRWA following Israeli allegations that a number of UNRWA's employees participated in the Oct. 7 Hamas attack. In July, Lazzarini said UNRWA had enough funds to continue operating through September. Since then, most countries resumed their funding.
Bou Habib stressed “the importance of UNRWA continuing its tasks and the services it provides, especially in the fields of education and health, because this is an investment in a better future for Palestinian refugees,” considering that “the absence of UNRWA means practically pushing them towards extremism and violence, instead of seeking to achieve their ambitions and dreams of a decent life.”
After meeting Bou Habib, Lazzarini met with Berri in Ain al-Tineh where they discussed the "situation in Lebanon and the region in light of Israel's continued aggression against Lebanon and the Gaza Strip" according to the NNA.
“I am here in Beirut for a two-day visit," Lazzarini said after the visit, "I discussed with Berri the situation in the region in depth, the dramatic situation and crisis in Gaza and the West Bank as well as the conflict that is expanding here in Lebanon."
"We also discussed the impact of the tension between Israel and Lebanon, and we know that a large number of people were displaced both in northern Israel and in southern Lebanon," the UNRWA chief added. “The situation is worrying. In Gaza, all efforts are focused towards a cease-fire, the release of hostages and how to improve the humanitarian assistance we provide."
Lazzarini regretted that the institution he heads is "under constant attack."
"There are calls to dismantle it and there is even pressure from the Israeli Knesset in this direction and hardly a day goes by without UNRWA facilities or UNRWA staff being targeted inside Gaza," he added.
Last Wednesday, Israel bombed a school housing displaced Palestinians in central Gaza which rescuers said killed 18 people, including UNRWA staffers, while the Israeli army said it hit a Hamas control center.
On Monday, the Lebanese Union of Palestinian Committees for the Right of Return held a sit-in in front of a UNRWA clinic in the Ain al-Helweh camp, calling for increased U.N. support for refugees.
