GENEVA, (Palestine Foundation Information Center), UNRWA commissioner-general Philippe Lazzarini said that Israel’s targeting of the agency’s headquarters, particularly in east Jerusalem, constitutes a “flagrant violation of the privileges and immunities of the UN.”
“In the complex operational environment of the occupied Palestinian territory, the agency’s humanitarian and human development work has come under sustained attack,” Lazzarini said at the Global Refugee Forum held in Geneva on Monday.
“75 years later, in the absence of a political solution, UNRWA continues to provide essential public-like services, including healthcare and education, to millions of Palestine refugees in Gaza, the occupied West Bank, Lebanon, Syria and Jordan,” Lazzarini underlined.
“Last week, Israeli police and municipal officials forcibly entered the UNRWA headquarters in occupied East Jerusalem, seizing assets and replacing the United Nations flag with an Israeli flag,” the UNRWA chief said, addressing the attendees.
“More than 380 colleagues have been killed in Gaza and more than 300 premises have been damaged or destroyed in the past two years,” he noted.
“Israeli domestic legislation has effectively expelled UNRWA international staff from the occupied Palestinian territory,” he added.
