Palestinians gather at an aid distributution near the Nuseirat refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip. AFP
Lazzarini said this during a meeting of the agency’s advisory committee on Tuesday.
He noted that UNRWA is at a "turning point" in the occupied Palestinian territories, where long-established norms for resolving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict are under serious threat.
“We are witnessing the execution of a project decades in the making—aimed at severing Palestinians from Palestine,” he stated.
Lazzarini described the current situation as “the repulsive culmination of 20 months of inaction and impunity,” during which over 55,000 people, mostly women and children, have reportedly been killed.
Turning to the occupied West Bank, Lazzarini said the area is effectively under lockdown.
He cited intensified Israeli military operations and widespread settler violence, alongside increasing restrictions on the movement of people and goods, as exacerbating an already dire situation.
Moreover, he condemned Israeli actions in East Jerusalem, where authorities forcibly closed UNRWA-run schools just weeks before the academic year ends. This has left nearly 550 students without educational alternatives.
“Denying children access to education is not only inhumane—it is illegal,” he said.
Lazzarini further warned that efforts to dismantle UNRWA are part of a broader campaign to undermine the viability of a future Palestinian state and to strip Palestinians of their refugee status.
“In Gaza, UNRWA is collapsing under the weight of relentless political attacks,” he concluded.
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