UNRWA Chief Urges Global Focus on Gaza

(MENAFN) Philippe Lazzarini, the commissioner-general of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA), voiced optimism that the declared truce between Iran and Israel would remain in effect and shift the global community’s focus back toward Gaza’s worsening humanitarian catastrophe.

“It is true that the attention over the last week on Gaza has significantly decreased, but the situation has continued to worsen in Gaza. There have been daily military strikes, people are still on the move,” Lazzarini said in an interview with a news agency, pointing to a severe lack of global engagement despite the escalating crisis.

He noted that Israel's ongoing obstruction of humanitarian aid entering Gaza has greatly aggravated the humanitarian emergency there in recent weeks.

Lazzarini also criticized Israel’s recently introduced aid distribution process, calling it a “death trap” that is claiming more lives than it is preserving.

"We have this abomination of this new aid system where people (in Gaza) feel completely trapped and ask themselves, ‘What do I do? Do I let my family starve to death, or do I take the risk to be killed trying to find some humanitarian assistance?’" he remarked, emphasizing the desperate choices facing civilians.

Describing the conditions in Gaza as "absolutely terrible," Lazzarini said many have likened the current environment to a dystopian, post-apocalyptic setting.

He stressed that this dire situation demands the full engagement and focus of the international community.

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