GAZA (Palestine Foundation Information Center) The only alternative to the UN Palestinian agency’s work in Gaza is to allow Israel to run services there, Philippe Lazzarini, UNRWA Commissioner-General, told reporters in Geneva on Monday.
“There is no plan B within the United Nations family, because there is no other agency capable of providing the same activities,” Lazzarini said.
“If you are talking about bringing in a truck with food, you will certainly find an alternative”, but “the answer is no” when it comes to education and primary health care, Lazzarini added.
In October, the Israeli Knesset decided to ban UNRWA from operating in Israel and occupied territories and from coordinating with the Israeli authorities. The two laws will take effect 90 days after their adoption, according to the Knesset.
Gaza is an unrelenting dystopian horror. More than 43,000 people are reported killed, with nearly 70 percent of them are women and children, Lazzarini told reporters.
He further pointed out that thousands more lie unaccounted for under the rubble or have succumbed to starvation or disease.
Across Gaza, 660,000 children who should be in school are learning nothing more than how to survive, he added, saying that north Gaza is under a tight siege, as military operations continue.
“In Gaza’s long shadow, the occupied West Bank is undergoing a violent transformation. Military incursions by the Israeli Security Forces are a daily reality. Public infrastructure is destroyed systematically during military operations, inflicting collective punishment on Palestinians.”
