GENEVA: Chaos is taking hold in Gaza as smuggling bands form and add to the difficulties in delivering aid, the head of the United Nations Palestinian refugee agency said on Tuesday.
UNRWA Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini said it had become “excruciating” to deliver aid and voiced concerns that such conditions would impact efforts to counter the high famine risk confirmed by a global hunger monitor’s report on Tuesday.
“Basically, we are confronted nowadays with a near total breakdown of law and order,” Lazzarini told reporters, blaming in part an increase in gangs who are attacking aid trucks in the hopes of finding smuggled cigarettes stashed among aid supplies. “It’s becoming more and more complicated (to deliver aid),” he added.
Local police are refusing to escort aid convoys for fear of being killed, he added, while humanitarian truck drivers were regularly being threatened or assaulted.
Among the other challenges, he named a near-drought in gasoline supplies which brought the UNRWA vehicle fleet to a halt on Monday. Israel vets fuel shipments into Gaza and has long maintained that there is a risk they are diverted to Hamas.
“We need sustainable, meaningful, uninterrupted aid in the Gaza Strip if we want to reverse the hunger situation,” Lazzarini said, adding that the operating environment is not conducive to doing so.
Israel, which launched its Gaza military operation after deadly Hamas attacks on southern Israel on Oct. 7, says it has expanded efforts to facilitate aid flows into Gaza and blames aid agencies for distribution problems inside the enclave.
Established in 1949 following the first Arab-Israeli war, UNRWA provides services including schooling, primary health care and humanitarian aid in Gaza and the region.
Earlier this year, 16 countries paused payments to the agency following Israel’s claims that some UNRWA staff were linked to Palestinian armed groups.
Lazzarini said all but two of those countries, the United States and Britain, had since resumed financing after a
review
of the agency’s neutrality showed Israel had yet to provide evidence for its accusations.
It now has enough funding to finance operations until the end of August, he added.
Gaza suffers near total breakdown of law and order, UNRWA chief says
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Gaza suffers near total breakdown of law and order, UNRWA chief says
- Local police are refusing to escort aid convoys for fear of being killed, Lazzarini added, while humanitarian truck drivers were regularly being threatened or assaulted
- Among the other challenges, he named a near-drought in gasoline supplies which brought the UNRWA vehicle fleet to a halt on Monday
US envoy calls for ceasefire deal in northeastern Syria to be maintained
- Tom Barrack, ambassador to Turkiye and special envoy for Syria, reiterates Washington’s support for Jan. 18 integration agreement between Syria’s government and Syrian Democratic Forces
LONDON: Tom Barrack, the US ambassador to Turkiye and special envoy for Syria, on Monday reiterated Washington’s desire to ensure the ceasefire agreement in northeastern Syria between Syria’s government and the Syrian Democratic Forces continues.
In a message posted on social media platform X, he wrote: “Productive phone call this evening with his excellency Masoud Barzani to discuss the situation in Syria and the importance of maintaining the ceasefire and ensuring humanitarian assistance to those in need, especially in Kobani.”
Barzani has been the leader of the Kurdistan Democratic Party since 1979, and served as president of Kurdistan region between 2005 and 2017.
The current present, Nechirvan Barzani, previously welcomed a recent decree by the Syrian president, Ahmad Al-Sharaa, officially recognizing the Kurdish population as an integral part of the country.
Barrack reiterated Washington’s support for efforts to advance the Jan. 18 agreement between Syria’s government and the SDF to integrate the latter into state institutions. The SDF is a Kurdish-led faction led by Mazloum Abdi that operates in northeastern Syria and recently clashed with government forces.
On Saturday, the Syrian Arab News Agency reported that the Syrian Ministry of Defense had announced a 15-day extension of the ceasefire deal.
