GENEVA (Palestine Foundation Information Center) UNRWA Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini has accused Israel of weaponizing humanitarian aid by imposing a blockade on goods and electricity needed by the embattled Gaza Strip.
Speaking in Geneva on Monday, Philippe Lazzarini warned of a renewed hunger crisis in Gaza if aid supplies did not resume.
Israel blocked the entry of all aid to Gaza at the beginning of the current month, and refused to engage in talks over the next phases of the ceasefire agreement, which will end its genocidal war permanently.
“I think the more we go ahead (with aid blockages), the more we will see the impact increasing on the population. And obviously, the risk … is that we go back to a situation we experienced months ago about deepening hunger in the Gaza Strip,” said Lazzarini.
“Whatever the intent is, it’s clearly a weaponization of humanitarian aid into Gaza,” he told reporters. “We have seen the situation is deteriorating very, very quickly.”
In the same press briefing in Geneva, he described the agency’s financial situation as “critical and precarious”.
In a related context, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) on Monday warned that Israel’s persistence in barring aid from entering Gaza and its recent decision to deprive Gaza any remaining electricity supplies, risks plunging the war-torn coastal territory further into an acute humanitarian crisis.
“The suspension of assistance now, including the cessation of power to the only water desalination facility in Gaza, risks plunging Gaza further into an acute humanitarian emergency. The impacts are already felt in price increases and shortages of basic goods,” ICRC said in a news release.
“Under international humanitarian law, Israel shall ensure that the basic needs of the civilian population under its control are met. The rapid and unimpeded passage of humanitarian assistance must also be allowed and facilitated,” ICRC added.
