UNRWA chief warns of 'project to separate Palestinians from Palestine' amid deepening Gaza crisis

The head of the UN agency for Palestine refugees warned Thursday that Palestinians are facing a deliberate effort to strip them of their homeland as humanitarian conditions deteriorate across Gaza and the region.

"We are witnessing the implementation of a project to separate Palestinians from Palestine," Philippe Lazzarini said in a post on X, following his remarks to the agency's Advisory Commission.

"In Gaza, the culmination of 20+ months of inaction and impunity meant that desperate people are being starved, humiliated, and degraded. They are concentrated in ghetto-like hubs from which they are likely to be further displaced."

Speaking to members of the commission on Wednesday, Lazzarini described the situation as "obscene," pointing to how food and medical supplies "sit across the border" while over two million people suffer. "A so-called 'aid mechanism' has been created to replace the principled international aid operation led by the United Nations, of which UNRWA is a critical part," he said.

"The new mechanism is an abomination that costs lives," he added, referring to the US-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, which is run by Israel and where a series of deadly incidents took place.

He noted that nearly 320 UNRWA personnel have been killed in Gaza since the conflict escalated, and one staff member was "summarily executed while on duty for the United Nations and found near the infamous mass grave of Palestinian paramedics."

In the occupied West Bank, Lazzarini said, "annexation is well underway," citing severe movement restrictions, settler violence, and the recent closure of UNRWA schools in East Jerusalem that left nearly 550 students without alternatives. "Denying children an education is not only inhumane, it is illegal," he stated.

Lazzarini warned: "We are at a tipping point threatening to permanently shift long-established parameters for peace," and that the attacks on UNRWA are part of a broader objective "to undermine the viability of a Palestinian State and to strip Palestinians of their refugee status."

The UNRWA chief also addressed the financial crisis engulfing the agency, warning that without additional funding, he would be forced to take “unprecedented decisions” affecting operations across the region by the end of August. The agency faces a $200 million shortfall for 2025 and is managing its cash flow week by week.

Lazzarini emphasized: "Principled political engagement by member states is urgently needed, including by the members of this Advisory Commission in relation to the future of Palestinian refugees."

He concluded: "UNRWA will not survive outside a genuine, time-bound political process. What is at stake is not just UNRWA as an institution. It is the collective future of Palestinian refugees."

The Israeli army, rejecting international calls for a ceasefire, has pursued a brutal offensive against Gaza since October 2023, killing over 56,000 Palestinians, most of them women and children.