Philippe Lazzarini said Israel authorities continue to deny humanitarian access to the United Nations
The head of the United Nations relief agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA, announced on Sunday that Israel had denied him entry to Gaza for the second time since the war between Israel and Hamas began on October 7.
“Just this week they refused me entry into Gaza – for the second time. I wanted to be there with my UNRWA colleagues, including those on the front lines,” said Philippe Lazzarini I wrote this on (formerly Twitter).
“Israeli authorities continue to deny humanitarian access to the United Nations,” he said.
UNRWA is Gaza’s largest aid agency, employing approximately 13,000 people in the Strip itself. Israeli bombing has killed at least 34,683 people, mostly women and children, in the Gaza Strip, according to the Hamas-run Health Ministry.
“In the past two weeks alone, 10 incidents have been recorded, including firing on convoys, arrests of UN personnel, harassment, stripping, threats with weapons, and long delays at checkpoints. ” Lazzarini said.
He also called for an “independent investigation” into the rocket fire that led to the closure of a vital aid route between Israel and Gaza.
Hamas’s armed wing, the Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades, claimed responsibility for Sunday’s rocket fire, saying militants attacked Israeli forces near the Kerem Shalom crossing.
Late Sunday, the Israeli army said it had struck a Hamas command and control center in central Gaza.
“Hamas has deliberately placed its command and control base close to UNRWA’s base of operations, endangering Gazan civilians sheltering there,” the army said in a statement.
It said the center had been used as a base for “several attacks against IDF (military) forces in the central Gaza corridor in recent weeks.”
UNRWA was embroiled in controversy in January when Israel accused several of its 30,000 personnel of involvement in the shocking cross-border Hamas attack on October 7.