As the Israeli Prime Minister continues to threaten an offensive in Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip, the United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees is preparing for the worst, while fighting for its own survival.
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The Israeli Prime Minister warned on Tuesday April 30 that his army will enter Rafah, a town in the Gaza Strip located on the border with Egypt, “with or without truce agreement”, while the threat has been hovering for several weeks. He promises, once again, to put an end to Hamas, suspected of having entrenched itself in Rafah, where a million and a half civilians are refugees.
Philippe Lazzarini, the head of UNRWA, admits that the only information he has on a potential invasion of Rafah is what he reads in the press. There remains the feeling of his teams on site, which is not very good: “For the moment, no one has asked civilians to evacuate Rafah. But the prevailing feeling is that if there is no agreement this week, it could happen at any time .”
Financing problems
The only good news: the food aid which is reaching a little more, in the north of Gaza, even if it remains largely insufficient and Israel continues to hinder the action of humanitarians. The government “systematically refuses our requests for convoys to the north of Gaza. As soon as a convoy is authorized, we must comply with tedious rulesdenounces Philippe Lazzarini. The trucks have to be unloaded and loaded several times along the way. Checkpoint times change every day too, and that makes our job even more complicated.”
Money is another worry. It has been sorely lacking since the United States decided to suspend its funding amid accusations of the involvement of around twenty employees in the October 7 attack. Individual cases, replies Philippe Lazzarini, with 14 employees who are still under investigation. Most donor countries have resumed their payments to UNRWA, enough to ensure the agency’s actions until June, but no longer.
