Palestine: Hope that the ceasefire will hold - UNRWA Briefing

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Published Feb 17, 2025

Briefing by Philippe Lazzarini, Commissioner-General of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), on the situation in the Middle East, including the Palestinian question.

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The Commissioner-General of the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) Philippe Lazzarini told the Security Council that if full implementation the Knesset legislation begins as expected on Thursday, operations in the occupied Palestinian territory “would be crippled,” and it will “sabotage Gaza's recovery and political transition.”

At stake, Lazzarini said, “is the fate of millions of Palestinians, the ceasefire and the prospect for a political solution that brings lasting peace and security.”

The UNRWA Commissioner-General said, “tens of thousands of people are now returning to the decimated north to search for the living and to bury the dead. Across the Gaza Strip, Palestinians are turning to UNRWA, the agency they have known all their lives for support.”

Contradicting claims by the government of Israel claims about UNRWA’s role in providing humanitarian assistance, he said, “in fact UNRWA constitute half the emergency response, with all other entities delivering the other half. Since October 2023, we have delivered two third of all food assistance, provided shelter to over a million displaced persons and vaccinated a quarter of million of children against polio.”

Lazzarini told the Council that “the relentless assault on UNRWA is harming the lives and future of Palestinians across the occupied Palestinian territory. It is eroding the trust in the international community, jeopardizing prospects for peace and security.”

He said, “the political attacks on the agency are motivated by the desire to strip Palestinians of the refugee statute, thereby unilaterally changing the long-established parameter for a political solution. The objective is to deny Palestinian refugees the right to self-determination and erase their history and identity.”