Foreign Wars and conflicts

The interview

In Gaza "300 thousand children without school and assistance": speaks Lazzarini, UNRWA Commissioner

The UN Agency for Palestine Refugees has been operating as "temporary" relief for 74 years. The practical and economic difficulties are enormous, especially during crises such as the current Israeli raids on Gaza. Commissioner Philippe Lazzarini at Rainews24

12/05/2023

For 74 years, UNRWA - the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East - has been providing support to refugees and not only in an area of perennial crisis, that of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

But its difficulties - operational and economic - are increasingly serious. On the one hand, the Agency is expected to provide health, educational, labour and humanitarian care services to around 6 million people. On the other hand, funding is becoming increasingly scarce. The United States under President Trump in 2018 stopped donations altogether, resuming only after Biden's arrival.

Every time there is a crisis, like the one of these days with the Israeli bombing of Gaza, it becomes even more difficult or even impossible to provide essential services: in the Strip these days 300 thousand children are without school and without health care.

Philippe Lazzarini, commissioner general of UNRWA, spoke to Rainews24 about this and more.