As Philippe Lazzarini prepares to conclude his tenure as commissioner-general of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA), he issues a stark warning about the systematic dismantling of the agency's operations in Gaza and the broader Middle East. The outgoing chief describes a calculated campaign that has brought the 75-year-old humanitarian organization to the brink of collapse, with profound implications for Palestinian rights and regional stability.
Unprecedented Destruction of UN Operations
Lazzarini reveals that UNRWA has endured more than two years of relentless physical, political, and legal assaults, primarily concentrated in Palestine. The scale of destruction is unprecedented in his 35-year career working in complex emergencies. What began with the killing of 130 UNRWA personnel has escalated dramatically, with the death toll now exceeding 390 colleagues killed in Gaza alone.
The devastation extends far beyond human casualties. Hundreds of UNRWA premises throughout Gaza have been damaged or completely destroyed. In occupied East Jerusalem, Israeli legislation has mandated the closure of UNRWA schools and health clinics while cutting off essential utilities to agency facilities. The UNRWA headquarters in East Jerusalem was seized, looted, and deliberately set ablaze, with senior Israeli officials openly celebrating the destruction both on-site and through online channels.
Systematic Campaign to Eliminate UNRWA
According to Lazzarini, eliminating UNRWA has become an explicit objective of the war in Gaza. He describes a well-orchestrated disinformation campaign by the Israeli government that falsely alleges agency-wide neutrality breaches and claims UNRWA is no longer operational in Palestine. These assertions, repeatedly debunked, aim to erode international support for the agency and weaken Palestinian rights in final status determinations of the Israel-Palestine conflict.
The agency's registration of refugees and archives documenting historical displacement are intrinsic to protecting Palestinian rights, explains Lazzarini. This documentation represents why dismantling UNRWA has become a strategic priority for those seeking to alter the demographic and political landscape of the region.
Catastrophic Regional Consequences
Lazzarini warns that without immediate and robust political and financial support, UNRWA will soon reach the end of its operational viability. A disorderly collapse would have devastating consequences:
- Fueling regional insecurity and instability
- Placing full responsibility for Palestinian refugee services on Israel as occupying power
- Imposing enormous burdens on host countries Lebanon, Syria, and Jordan
- Compounding the suffering of generations of displaced Palestinians
The outgoing commissioner-general emphasizes that UNRWA represents a vital resource not only for Gaza but for protecting Palestinian refugee rights across the entire Middle East. He has urgently appealed to UN member states to leverage the agency's workforce and expertise for implementing Security Council resolution 2803, warning against repeating the disastrous mistake of removing civil administration in Iraq in 2003.
Failure of International Protection
Lazzarini expresses profound dismay that the international community has failed to adequately protect a UN entity operating in accordance with its mandate. UNRWA has effectively become a proxy battleground in the Israel-Palestine conflict, pronounced guilty until proven innocent despite providing essential services including primary healthcare, education, clean water, sanitation, and hygiene to millions.
The commissioner-general argues that the abject failure to mount an effective multilateral response in Gaza has enabled a war operating outside international legal boundaries, normalizing disdain for the rules-based international order. As the conflict threatens to engulf the broader region, including through the US-Israeli war against Iran, the stakes have never been higher.
Lazzarini concludes with an urgent call to action: We must act – not belatedly, but now – to mobilize a broad coalition determined to uphold international law and defend multilateralism. The collapse of UNRWA would represent not only a humanitarian catastrophe for Palestinian refugees but a fundamental failure of the international system established to save succeeding generations from the scourge of war.
