365bet�����������籭

BERLIN

Philippe Lazzarini, the head of the UN agency for Palestinian Refugees (UNRWA), expressed hope that the announced ceasefire between Iran and Israel would hold and redirect international focus back to Gaza's deepening humanitarian crisis.

"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 told Anadolu in an interview.

He said Israel’s continued blockade of aid into Gaza has further deepened the humanitarian crisis in the Palestinian territory over the past weeks, while Israel’s newly created aid mechanism has become a “death trap,” costing more lives than it saves.

"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 said.

"We have an absolutely terrible situation in Gaza, which many describe as being a dystopian, post-apocalyptic type of environment, which requires all the attention of the international community," he stressed.

The UN official expressed hope that the ceasefire between Iran and Israel, which was announced by US President Donald Trump after he pressured both sides, would hold and redirect the international community's attention to the worsening humanitarian crisis in Gaza.

"First, I hope it will last. De-escalation is definitely needed in the region. The region cannot afford a spread of a conflict," Lazzarini said.

"I really hope also that this ceasefire means that we can now focus again on a ceasefire in Gaza, on the release of the hostages, but also on the lifting of the siege and uninterrupted humanitarian assistance," he said, reiterating their demand that the UN and humanitarian organizations be allowed to operate in Gaza.

"We have the expertise, we have the resources, we have demonstrated during the ceasefire that we can turn the tide and address the spreading hunger we were already witnessing at that time, and as I mentioned this morning, we have a lot of resources waiting just outside the Gaza Strip, whether in Ashdod, in Jordan, or in El-Arish. Food and non-food items, life-saving assistance is ready to go into Gaza," he said.

UNRWA, which has been repeatedly targeted by the Israeli government, has lost nearly 320 staff members in Israeli attacks in the Gaza Strip since October 2023. Despite facing military attacks, arrests and harassment, the agency continues to provide essential services to Palestinians.

Lazzarini emphasized that the new aid mechanism introduced by Israel -- which came only after mounting international pressure -- humiliates and degrades desperate people in Gaza. He insisted that the distribution of aid should be carried out by the UN agencies and humanitarian organizations.

"This mechanism is a death trap…which is nearby Israeli military positions, which attracts large crowds of young people. And we have seen that the large crowd of young people in nearby military positions is leading to daily killings," he said.

"It's a mechanism which excludes the weaker, the most vulnerable, the elderly people, the children, the female-led households. So it's definitely not a mechanism geared to address the humanitarian situation," he stressed.

Since Israel launched its military campaign in Gaza in 2023, more than 56,000 Palestinians have been killed and over 100,000 others wounded, most of them women and children.

Israel is currently facing a genocide case at the International Court of Justice over its actions in Gaza, where at least 1.9 million Palestinians remain displaced and face severe shortages of food, medical supplies and other essentials.

Last November, the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant for suspected war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza.