Head Of UN UN UNRWA Rejected To Enter Gaza Strip By Israel

Philippe Lazzarini when he met Palestinian refugees in southern Gaza last November. (Wikimedia Commons/UNRWA/Mohamed Hinnawi)

JAKARTA - The head of the United Nations Palestinian refugee agency (UNRWA) was denied entry into the Gaza Strip on Monday, the agency said, an unprecedented act, when the region needed humanitarian assistance.

Philippe Lazzarini said he was about to head to Rafah City in Gaza, but received a notification that he was denied entry to the city.

Speaking with him at a news conference in Cairo, Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry said: "You were rejected by the Israeli government, refusing to enter which is an unprecedented move for (a) representative in this high position," the Reuters reported on March 19.

The office of the Prime Minister of Israel and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

UNRWA is by far the largest aid agency in Gaza, where the severity of the humanitarian crisis was underscored on Monday, when a UN-backed report warned of starvation in the northern region.

"On the day new data on hunger in #GAZA was released, Israeli authorities refused to enter Gaza," Lazzarini wrote in X, adding that his visit was meant to enhance humanitarian operations.

"The trafficking caused by humans that we witnessed is a stain on our humanity collectively," he continued.

Meanwhile, UNRWA Communications Director totaling Touma told Reuters that Lazzarini had visited the Gaza Strip four times during the war and several times before.

"We are ready to leave this morning by Egyptian plane from Cairo to El Arish," said Touma.

Lazzarini had previously warned of a campaign to end UNRWA's operations. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said UNRWA should shut down.

In Cairo, he warned of a "race against time" to reverse the spread of hunger and prevent hunger. With political will, Gaza could be "flooded" by food via land crossings, he added.

He also said more than 150 UNRWA facilities in Gaza had been affected, damaged or completely destroyed.

"We also know that a number of staff arrested have gone through a very rigorous investigation, ill-treatment and insults," said Lazzarini.

Israel in January accused 12 of 13,000 UNRWA staff in Gaza of being involved in an attack on the south of their territory on October 7. The allegations left 16 countries, including the United States, discontinuing $450 million of funding, putting UNRWA's operations in crisis.

UNRWA sacked several of its staff members, saying the action was carried out to protect the agency's ability to provide humanitarian assistance, while an independent UN internal investigation was launched.

UNRWA condemned the October 7 attack, saying Israel's accusations against the agency, if true, were betrayal of UN values and those served by UNRWA.