Head of Palestinian Relief Organization: Situation in Gaza is “hell”
Published: Tuesday, Jun 25th 2024, 09:20
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The head of the UN Palestinian Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) has described the situation in the Gaza Strip as "hell". "Over the past nine months, we have witnessed an unprecedented failure of humanity," Philippe Lazzarini told the organization's supervisory board in Geneva on Monday, according to a transcript.
More than two million people in the Gaza Strip are "in a nightmare from which they cannot wake up".
The "catastrophic extent" of hunger there is the result of human action, Lazzarini said. "Children are dying of malnutrition and dehydration while food and clean water wait in trucks." In addition, the collapse of civil order has led to "unrestrained looting" and smuggling. Lazzarini called for the "crucial role" of UNRWA to be protected. It must be able to continue its work until a political solution is in sight.
UNRWA hit the headlines in January because Israel claimed that twelve of its employees were involved in the massacre on 7 October and that the organization as a whole had been infiltrated by Hamas. An audit report by independent experts later concluded that UNRWA had established "robust" mechanisms to uphold its principle of neutrality. However, there was room for improvement. At the same time, the report stated that Israel had never provided evidence for some of the allegations.
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