By Emma Farge
GENEVA (Reuters) – The only alternative to the U.N. Palestinian relief agency in Gaza is to allow Israel to run services there, its chief said on Monday, repeating calls for states to resist an Israeli ban.
Philippe Lazzarini, the head of UNRWA, is in Geneva for a strategy meeting with donors after Israel banned the agency from operating on its territory last month in what he said was the darkest moment in UNRWA’s 75-year history.
“I keep being asked either yes or no (is there) a plan B? There is no plan B,” Lazzarini told reporters on the sidelines of the meeting. “If there is no U.N. or international community response, the responsibility will go back to the occupying power, being Israel.”
The United Nations Relief and Works Agency provides aid and shelter to many Gazans made homeless by the 13-month war which Palestinian authorities say has killed over 43,000 people and reduced most of the enclave to rubble.
Israel has repeatedly accused UNRWA of being implicated in the Oct. 7, 2023 Hamas-led attacks on Israel that triggered the war, in which 1,200 people were killed and more than 250 taken hostage, according to Israeli tallies.
A U.N. investigation found that nine UNRWA staff may have been involved and fired them. The crisis caused some donors to temporarily suspend funding although most has since been restored, with major donor Washington a notable exception.
Lazzarini said he called on countries at the Geneva meeting to try to halt the Israeli parliament bill, due to take effect in late January. “We will be operating until the day we cannot operate anymore, and meanwhile, we will exhaust all possible diplomatic avenues,” he said.
Already, the impact of the Israeli ban is being felt by the agency, Lazzarini said.
He cited an incident in which he said an UNRWA female employee was interrogated and handcuffed to a post by Israeli forces last week in the occupied West Bank, without providing any further details.
Israel’s military said it needed more information, including the date and location of the alleged incident, before responding to Lazzarini’s allegation.
A U.S. Congress deal bars U.S. funds to UNRWA until March 2025 when U.S. President-elect Donald Trump, who is seen as staunchly pro-Israel, will be in the White House.
(Reporting by Emma Farge; Additional reporting by Emily Rose; Editing by Miranda Murray and Ros Russell)
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