During a meeting of the UN Security Council, the Commissioner General of the UN Agency for Palestine Refugees, Philippe Lazzarini, emphasized the inadmissibility of the dissolution of the organization he leads. He warned that millions of Palestinians would lose their refugee status if UNWRA were to be dissolved, which would exacerbate hunger in the Gaza Strip and complicate efforts to transition from a ceasefire to the reconstruction and rehabilitation of the area.
Lazzarini also highlighted the impact of closing UNWRA on education in the region, stating that it would be impossible to return half a million boys and girls to school. Depriving them of education would condemn an entire generation to despair, leading to anger and perpetuating the cycle of violence. The meeting, which was initiated by Jordan, began with a minute’s silence in memory of the 178 UNRWA employees who died in Gaza.
While Israel accuses UNRWA of complicity in Hamas’s crimes due to the involvement of agency employees in a recent attack, it is also the only organization with the infrastructure and personnel to provide essential humanitarian assistance to the residents of the Gaza Strip. The debate over the future of UNWRA continues to be a point of contention among international officials, with significant implications for the Palestinian refugee population.