UNRWA leader: Calls for dismantling Palestine relief agency ‘short-sighted’

Philippe Lazzarini, the head of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), said that calls for dismantling his organization are “short-sighted” and would cause a bigger crisis in Gaza. 

“I have talked to the member states about all these calls to have UNRWA dismantled, to be terminated. I have warned about the impact, I have said that these calls are short-sighted,” Lazzarini said, according to Reuters.

The United States has frozen funds to UNRWA in the wake of a report that a dozen of its employees aided the Hamas attack on Israel on Oct. 7.

This has set off a debate within the Democratic Party, with some lawmakers saying the U.S. should not freeze aid to the group given its role in providing relief to Gaza, a territory controlled by Hamas. Republicans have been much more hostile to UNRWA, arguing the organization is rife with antisemitism.

“There is absolutely no other U.N. agency or international [nongovernmental organizations] which have been tasked over the last two decades to provide government-like services like education to hundreds of thousands of children,” Lazzarini said in defending the organization he leads.

The agency was founded in 1949. It provides hygiene supplies, water and food to nearly the entire population of Gaza now. The agency’s spokesperson said the UNRWA has around two weeks left before some services get affected by the cutting off of aid, according to Reuters. 

The U.S., along with Britain, has mentioned it would not resume funding the agency until the U.N.’s internal investigation into the allegations concludes. 

Lazzarini stressed the UNRWA’s impact extends beyond Gaza. 

“If we want to give a chance to any future … transition to succeed, we need also to make sure that the international community has the tools, and one of the tools is UNRWA,” he said. 

On Saturday, Israel claimed it found Hamas tunnels under the agency’s headquarters, further drawing scrutiny on the UNRWA. The agency said it abandoned the headquarters on Oct. 12. 

“UNRWA … does not have the military and security expertise nor the capacity to undertake military inspections of what is or might be under its premises,” the UNRWA said.