Lazzarini: Instead of banning UNRWA, we must work to end the war in Gaza

Commissioner-General of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA), Philippe Lazzarini, stressed that the focus should be on reaching an agreement to end the war of extermination on Gaza Strip, rather than focusing on banning the agency or finding alternatives to it.

Wafa Agency quoted Lazzarini as saying on his account on the X platform: “Dismantling UNRWA in the absence of a viable alternative will deprive Palestinian children of education,” wondering: “Why are children and their education not mentioned in any discussions when experts or politicians talk about banning or replacing UNRWA?”

The UN official warned that without education, children will suffer despair and poverty, and fall prey to exploitation, and thus the region remains unstable and volatile.

He stressed that the children of Gaza are now losing a second year of education, noting that “UNRWA is the only UN agency that provides education directly in its schools, and in the West Bank, approximately 50,000 children receive education in these schools.”

Inas Abdulkareem