Stopping UNRWA would be condemning Gazans to death, says French war doctor

By Nur Asena Erturk

ANKARA (AA) – Stopping the work of UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNWRA) would be condemning Gazans to death, a French doctor said.

Left-wing French lawmaker Thomas Portes and a parliamentary delegation visited the blockaded region on Sunday, and met in Cairo with a group of doctors the other day.

French war doctor Raphael Pitti, who has been active in the Gaza Strip for over two weeks, said Gazans are already enduring extreme conditions, and are deprived of food.

"If you stop the only system (UNRWA) that ensures food supplies, has its own network, and has its storage … you would be condemning Gazans to death," Pitti told lawmakers, according to a video Portes shared on X.

Pitti said that apart from 27,000 casualties, 2 million people are being stripped of their dignity. "This is humanely unacceptable," he added.

Israel has continued relentless attacks on the Gaza Strip since the Oct. 7 attack by Palestinian group Hamas, which killed 1,200 people. Besides the casualties, the military campaign has caused immense destruction, suffering and conditions for a famine.

Many countries have suspended funding to UNRWA after Israel alleged that some agency employees were involved in the Hamas attack of Oct. 7. The agency, which caters to Palestinian refugees in Gaza, as well as those in the West Bank, Syria, Jordan and Lebanon, says it has terminated contracts with the accused staffers.

UN chief Antonio Guterres said on Monday that he appointed Catherine Colonna, the former foreign minister of France, to lead an independent review group and "assess whether the Agency is doing everything within its power to ensure neutrality and to respond to allegations of serious breaches when they are made."