Israel bars UN agency chief from entering Gaza for 2nd time

By Rania Abu Shamala

ISTANBUL (AA) - Israeli authorities prevented the Commissioner-General of the UN agency for Palestinian Refugees (UNRWA), Philippe Lazzarini, from entering the Gaza Strip for the second time since the start of the Israel-Hamas war last October.

“Just this (past) week, they denied -- for the second time -- my entry to Gaza, where I planned to be with our UNRWA teams, including those on the front lines,” Lazzarini said on X.

“The past while recorded an increase in the denial of humanitarian access and attacks on humanitarian workers and convoys,” he said. “Since the beginning of the war, the UN including UNRWA and other humanitarian personnel, premises and operations have been blatantly disregarded.”

Lazzarini called on the Israeli authorities to facilitate the entry of humanitarian aid into various parts of the Gaza Strip, including the north.

Israel has pounded the Gaza Strip in retaliation for a cross-border attack on Oct 7 last year by the Palestinian group Hamas, which killed about 1,200 people. Nearly 34,700 Palestinians have since been killed in Gaza, the vast majority of whom have been women and children, and 78,000 others injured, according to Palestinian health authorities.

Nearly seven months into the Israeli war, vast swathes of Gaza lay in ruins, pushing 85% of the enclave’s population into internal displacement amid a crippling blockade of food, clean water and medicine, according to the UN.

Israel stands accused of genocide at the International Court of Justice. An interim ruling in January said it is "plausible" that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza and ordered Tel Aviv to stop such acts and take measures to guarantee that humanitarian assistance is provided to civilians there.