Israel has prevented him from accessing the war-torn and beleaguered Gaza Strip, where the UN has issued an imminent hunger warning, according to the head of the UN organization for Palestinian refugees, who made this announcement on Monday.
In response, Israel said that Philippe Lazzarini, the head of UNRWA, had not followed the correct protocol.
Lazzarini, who last month said Israel “aimed at destroying UNRWA,” said he had “intended to go into Rafah today, but was informed my entry had been declined.” He spoke in a Cairo joint press conference with Egypt’s Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry.
Israel in January accused several of UNRWA’S roughly 13,000 Gaza employees of being involved in the October 7 attack by Hamas militants on Israel.
Lazzarini wrote on X, formerly Twitter, that he had been denied entry by “Israeli authorities”.
COGAT, an Israeli defence ministry body governing civilian affairs in the occupied Palestinian territories, said on X that Lazzarini had not followed “the necessary coordination processes and channels” when requesting entry into Gaza.
“This is another attempt by UNRWA to blame Israel for their own mistakes,” it said of the UN agency at the centre of efforts to provide humanitarian relief in Gaza.
Farhan Haq, deputy spokesman for UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, said “all UN officials, including Mr Lazzarini and his colleagues in UNRWA, should have access to do the vital humanitarian work they do.”
Guterres “certainly wants Mr Lazzarini to have access throughout the areas in which UNRWA operates”, Haq told reporters.
Many donor countries, including the United States, stopped funding UNRWA after receiving accusations from Israel against some of its employees; however, some, like Spain, Canada, and Australia, have since boosted or restored their contributions.
Israel’s stance that “UNRWA is a front for Hamas” was reaffirmed earlier on Monday by Israeli government spokesman Avi Hyman.
According to Lazzarini, Israel did not present any proof against his former employees who were charged with carrying out the October 7 incident.
Shoukry expressed Cairo’s “complete support” for the agency and criticised “unilateral actions to restrict UNRWA funding due to baseless accusations”.
An AFP calculation based on official Israeli numbers indicates that 1,160 people died in Israel as a result of the Hamas strike on October 7, the majority of them civilians.
According to the health ministry of the region, Israel’s retaliatory campaign in Hamas-controlled Gaza has killed at least 31,726 individuals, the majority of them were women and children.
