ISTANBUL — The head of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) said Thursday that Gaza’s current aid distribution system is being run by mercenaries, including what he called “anti-Muslim gangsters.”
“At least 2,000 desperate and hungry people have been killed while seeking food aid. The vast majority were killed near sites of the so called ‘Gaza humanitarian foundation’,” UNRWA Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini wrote on the US social media company X.
“This deadly mechanism is manned by mercenaries including anti-Muslim gangsters, according to the BBC,” he added.
Lazzarini stressed that addressing famine in Gaza “requires uninterrupted, at scale and safe access to people in need wherever they are.”
“The UN, including UNRWA and partners have the resources and the expertise. Let us do our job,” he said.
Since May 27, Israel has operated an alternative aid distribution channel through the so-called Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, backed by the US but rejected by the UN and Palestinians, who call it a “death trap.”
Israel has also kept all crossings into Gaza closed since March 2, blocking food, medicine and humanitarian supplies, pushing the enclave into famine despite aid trucks piling up at its borders.
The Israeli army has continued a brutal offensive on the Gaza Strip, killing at least 64,700 Palestinians since October 2023. The military campaign has devastated the enclave, which is facing famine.
Last November, the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza.
Israel also faces a genocide case at the International Court of Justice for its war on the enclave. — AA
