CAIRO (Reuters) – Israel on Monday denied the commissioner general of the United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) access to the Gaza Strip, an unprecedented decision at a time when the needs of the population are immense, report UNRWA and Egypt.
Philippe Lazzarini wanted to go to the town of Rafah, in the south of the Palestinian enclave.
“The Israeli government has refused you entry, which is unprecedented for a representative in such a high position,” Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukri said at a news conference in Cairo with the head of the ‘UNRWA.
The Israeli prime minister’s office and the Foreign Ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
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In January, Israeli authorities accused 12 UNRWA agents of having participated in the Hamas attack on Israel on October 7. They then demanded the resignation of Philippe Lazzarini.
“The day new data is published on the famine in #GAZA, the Israeli authorities refuse me entry to Gaza,” wrote Philippe Lazzarini on the social network X.
“This famine caused before our eyes is a stain on our collective humanity,” he stressed.
Famine will affect the northern Gaza Strip no later than May, according to an Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) assessment released Monday.
(Reporting Sarah El Safty, Nayera Abdallah, Clauda Tanios and Tom Perry in Beirut, James Mackenzie and Emily Rose in Jerusalem, written by Tom Perry; French version Stéphanie Hamel, edited by Sophie Louet)
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