UNITED NATIONS: Famine in the Gaza Strip is the result of “mercenaries who weaponize food assistance,” head of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) Philippe Lazzarini said, warning that relentless attacks and funding cuts are pushing it toward collapse, Anadolu News Agency reports.
“For nearly two years, we have witnessed an appalling disregard for life and international law in the occupied Palestinian territory,” Lazzarini said at the annual ministerial meeting in support of UNRWA on the sidelines of the 80th UN General Assembly session on Thursday.
“For nearly two years, we have witnessed an appalling disregard for life and international law in the occupied Palestinian territory,” @UNLazzarini said at the Ministerial Meeting on UNRWA during High-Level Week at #UNGA80.
People in #Gaza face threats to education, health, and… pic.twitter.com/FG6bOdo8Tv
— UNRWA (@UNRWA) September 25, 2025
“Today, we are confronted with the stark consequences of prolonged inaction and impunity; a famine which is a result of replacing a principled humanitarian operation with mercenaries who weaponize food assistance, a looming military occupation in Gaza, emboldened settlers and creeping annexation in the occupied West Bank, and a multilateral system in peril,” he said.
Stressing that “history will forever ask our predecessors why they failed to prevent the genocides perpetrated under their watch,” Lazzarini added that the Israeli government is seeking to undermine the agency.
“We have been attacked relentlessly in flagrant violation of the United Nations privileges and immunities. The attacks seek to dismantle the agency, to end the refugee status of Palestinians and further undermine the prospect for a two-state solution,” he said.
He said Israeli legislation this year facilitated “the removal of UNRWA international staff from Gaza and the West Bank and the closure of our schools in occupied East Jerusalem.”
Despite having supplies “to sustain the entire population of Gaza for three months,” he said, the agency “has been blocked from entering since March” by the Israeli authorities.
The news agency reported that Lazzarini also condemned a “fierce and well-funded disinformation campaign spearheaded by the government of Israel,” warning that it has “targeted lawmakers in donor countries to tarnish the agency’s reputation and to strangle both political support and funding for its vital work.”
The UNRWA chief said the loss of two major donors (the US and EU) has triggered “a severe deficit and cash flow crisis.”
“In the absence of a significant influx of new funding, the delivery of critical services to millions of Palestinian refugees across the region will be compromised before the end of the year,” he added.
Emphasizing that the genocide in Gaza is “reshaping the multilateral system in profound ways,” he urged each member state to defend “international law under a rules-based order.”
“I also implore you to safeguard UNRWA’s mandate within a time-bound political process and to finance the provision of essential services until such process is completed,” he urged.
“The agency is not only being stretched to the last dollar, but also confronted with mounting obstructions,” she said, citing the Israeli ban on the agency as “more dangerous.”
She also warned that “stopping its work would jeopardize the futures of more than half a million children who learn in UNRWA’s over 700 schools.”
