Root Causes of Israel-Palestine Conflict Must Be Addressed: UNRWA

Philippe Lazzarini, the commissioner-general of the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) said, “the layers of hardship in Gaza keep getting thicker” because the very basis of the conflict has not been addressed.

Lazzarini promised to urge the international community to address “the root causes of the conflict, the occupation, the displacement, of which we had a strong reminder in eastern Jerusalem al Quds and Sheikh Jarrah, the blockade and the cycle of violence – this sense of normality will only be a mirage until the next conflict.”

Calling on the international community to fund UNRWA’s efforts to address urgent humanitarian needs for Palestinians, Lazzarini said his main mission after leaving Gaza will be “to ensure that stability remains in the lives of Palestine refugees in Gaza through a strong UNRWA”.

He also expressed his deep frustration at the “senseless episode of extreme violence that killed civilians, destroyed infrastructure and threw Gaza back several years.”

Tension escalated across the Palestinian territories last month over an Israeli court verdict to forcibly expel Palestinian families from their homes in the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood in occupied eastern Jerusalem al Quds in favor of settler groups.

The situation flared up after Israeli forces raided the Al-Aqsa Mosque and assaulted worshippers inside.

The tension spread to the Gaza Strip, with Israel launching air attacks that killed at least 248 Palestinians, including 66 children and 39 women, and injured more than 1,900 others. Health authorities in the occupied West Bank have separately confirmed 31 killed in that region, bringing the total to 279 across all Palestinian territories.