UNRWA chief condemns Israel over ‘collective punishment’ of entire Gaza population

The commissioner general for the main UN agency in Palestine has told the UN Security Council Israel is carrying out “collective punishment” of the entire population of Gaza.

In his address to the 15-member council on Monday, UNRWA chief Philippe Lazzarini said Israel forced the displacement of Palestinians from the north of Gaza to the south – where they are still not safe.

Lazzarini warned that basic services are crumbling while medicine, food, water and fuel are running out in the besieged territory.

“Most of the people of Gaza felt abandoned. This is dangerous – an entire population is being dehumanized,” he said.

He added that nowhere is safe in Gaza from Israeli bombardment, not even the south where the regime has been pushing the people to go.  

The UN commissioner said not even churches, mosques, hospitals, and UNRWA facilities sheltering displaced people have been spared.

More than 600,000 displaced Palestinians fled to the UNRWA schools across the enclave seeking safety and assistance amid the intensified Israeli onslaught against Gaza.

Israel’s bombardment has already pushed Palestinians in the besieged enclave into smaller areas and spaces.

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Lazzarini warned that a further breakdown of civil order in the territory would make it “extremely difficult if not impossible” to deliver more aid.

He said a ceasefire has become a matter of life and death for millions.

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At least 8,610 Palestinians have now been killed in Israel’s attack, who Lazzarini said included 64 UNRWA staff.

He said that a UN worker named Samir, as well as Samir’s wife and eight children, were killed just hours before the meeting.

“My UNRWA colleagues are the only glimmer of hope for the entire Gaza Strip … but they are running out of fuel, water, food and medicine and will soon be unable to operate,” said the Swiss-Italian official.

The Palestinian death toll from Israeli bombardment in the Gaza Strip has climbed to 8,306, the Health Ministry in the blockaded enclave said Monday.

“The fatalities include 3,457 children and 2,136 women, while more than 21,048 people were injured,” ministry spokesman Ashraf al-Qudra told a news conference in Gaza City.

Also addressing the UNSC’s Thursday session, a senior UN aid official, Lisa Doughten, said more than one border crossing was needed to deliver aid to the besieged Gaza Strip, but Kerem Shalom, controlled by Israel, is the only one equipped to take enough trucks.

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The United Nations has also said hospitals in the Gaza Strip are now admitting only emergency cases.

Aid trucks have been trickling into Gaza from Egypt over the past week via Rafah.

The speakers detailed a breakdown in civil order, the loss of clean water and the death rate of children that matches the number of children killed in conflict in the last four years.

The UAE ambassador Lana Zaki Nusseibeh said the council may be broken altogether if it ignored the will of most of the world as expressed through the general assembly’s Friday vote.

UN General Assembly overwhelmingly calls for 'immediate truce' in Gaza

The UN General Assembly overwhelmingly passes a resolution calling for implementation of an immediate "humanitarian truce" in the Gaza Strip.

She said there had been 76 attacks on healthcare bodies in Gaza with 20 hospitals damaged. “Let me be clear, these sites are protected by international law,” she said, adding that warnings before attacks did not alter hospitals’ protected status.

Dangerous and unrealistic evacuation orders had to end, she said, describing them as “cruel and reckless, and so is our delay as a security council”.

Israel’s plan for forced eviction of Palestinians

Meanwhile, WikiLeaks has issued documents revealing Israel’s plan for forced eviction of Palestinians amid over three weeks of onslaught against the besieged Gaza Strip.

The verified ten-page document from Israel’s Ministry of Intelligence was issued a week after the unprecedented operation al-Aqsa Flood.

The advisory document outlines a four-stage forced expulsion and resettlement of Palestinians from Gaza to northern Sinai in Egypt.

According to the document, Tel Aviv would initially instruct the Palestinians to evacuate north Gaza ahead of its land invasion.

The plan envisions the Israeli military launching land operations from the north in order to force the Palestinians to leave Gaza via the Rafah Crossing.

The outline also includes the establishment of tent cities before the construction of permanent settlements for Palestinians in Egypt. An official from Israel’s Ministry of Intelligence has verified the document issued in Hebrew.

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