Gaza - Geneva: Europe and the Arabs
The Commissioner-General of UNRWA said that allegations of hostage-taking in Agency buildings in Gaza are appalling and extremely disturbing, stressing that UNRWA takes such allegations very seriously. According to the UN daily news bulletin, a copy of which we received this morning,
In a post on the X website, Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini expressed his relief at the release of the hostages, including Emily Damary, and expressed his hope that the rest of the hostages will soon be returned safely to their families. Damary, a British-Israeli, reportedly stated that she was "held by Hamas at an UNRWA site."
Lazzarini said that the agency has repeatedly called for independent investigations into any credible allegations of misuse and disregard for the nature of UN buildings by Palestinian militants, including Hamas.
He said that UNRWA was forced to evacuate all its facilities in northern Gaza, including Gaza City, on 13 October 2023 and has since lost control of those facilities. He said the same thing happened every time a military evacuation order was issued during the 15 months of war in other locations in the Gaza Strip.
He said that UNRWA was not involved in any negotiations regarding the release of the hostages as this was not within its mandate. He reiterated the call for the immediate release and safe return of all hostages.
For her part, UNRWA Communications Director Juliette Touma said that the agency is committed to continuing to provide essential and life-saving services throughout the occupied Palestinian territory, including the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, including occupied East Jerusalem. She stressed that the full implementation of the two Knesset laws that seek to prevent UNRWA from providing services “will have catastrophic consequences for the lives and future of Palestine refugees.”
Speaking to reporters in Geneva on Friday from the Jordanian capital Amman, she said that the agency had not yet received any official communication from the Israeli authorities on how the laws would be implemented throughout the occupied territory. She noted that the visas of the international staff had expired two days earlier, forcing them to leave the Palestinian territory.
The Knesset had passed two laws that would have halted UNRWA’s work in the occupied Palestinian territory and banned Israeli officials from communicating with the agency.
Touma said that UNRWA’s Palestinian staff – who make up the vast majority of the agency’s staff – continue to provide services despite facing “an exceptionally hostile environment and a fierce disinformation campaign.”
She noted that UNRWA had lost more than 270 of its staff in the Gaza Strip, and that at least two-thirds of its facilities had been bombed during the war, while some 20 UNRWA staff remained in Israeli detention centers.
The agency’s compound in East Jerusalem was the target of violent protests, stone-throwing and arson in three separate incidents, and UNRWA staff had been arrested in the area.
UNRWA continues to operate despite laws coming into effect
The UNRWA official said that despite the Israeli letter to the Secretary-General calling on the United Nations to stop the agency’s operations in Jerusalem, it continues to provide services, including primary health care for 70,000 patients and education for more than 1,100 students.
Touma said that UNRWA was able to bring in trucks of essential supplies into Gaza on Thursday, and that 5,000 of its staff on the ground continue to distribute supplies throughout the Strip, but there is no information yet on whether the operation is continuing today.
She noted that UNRWA is the largest humanitarian organization operating in Gaza and forms the backbone of the operation there. She said that the agency has brought in 60 percent of all the aid that has reached Gaza since the ceasefire began on January 19, and stressed that if its work is halted, “the fate of the very fragile ceasefire will be at risk.”
“We at UNRWA are committed to staying and delivering assistance throughout the occupied Palestinian territory, which includes the Gaza Strip and the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem. We need support now, especially as the lives of people in Gaza depend on the work of the Agency, and the future of children in the West Bank depends on UNRWA,” she added.

From inside the Gaza Strip, the WHO Representative in the occupied Palestinian territory, Dr. Rick Peeperkorn, told reporters that the health needs were enormous, with only 18 of 36 hospitals partially functioning and 57 of 142 health care centers still operating.

He said the ceasefire was allowing for the expansion of assistance, as the organization had sent supplies to cover the health needs of 1.6 million people from stocks inside Gaza, and had already received some 62 trucks of supplies.
However, he noted that the psychological burden in the Strip was unimaginable. “Everyone in Gaza has been affected by 15 months of conflict. Stress and anxiety have increased. There are two psychiatrists in the north, along with a few mental health professionals. Before the war, there was a psychiatric hospital and six community mental health points covering the Gaza Strip, but by early 2024, all of them had stopped due to attacks and conflict,” he added.
He highlighted the need to urgently resume medical evacuations. He said medical corridors must be opened now, as the organization estimates that between 12,000 and 14,000 people are in need of medical evacuation, including at least 2,500 children.
He called for the traditional referral route to the West Bank and East Jerusalem to be restored, with hospitals “ready to receive Palestinian patients in Gaza”. He stressed the need to transfer patients to other countries from the West Bank, East Jerusalem and Egypt when needed. He said the first medical evacuation since the ceasefire was expected through the Rafah crossing for about 50 patients on Saturday, but warned that if the pace of evacuation continued since the crossing was closed, "we will be in a medical evacuation situation for the next 5 to 10 years, and this must change."