UNRWA: “I must underscore that UNRWA was always intended to be a temporary Agency.”

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28 July 2025

Statement of UNRWA Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini at the International Conference for the Peaceful Settlement of the Question of Palestine and the Implementation of the Two-State Solution

NEW YORK – Checked against delivery, as delivered by Mr. Ben Majekodunmi, UNRWA Chief of Staff

Distinguished Chairs and Delegates, I read the statement on behalf of the Commissioner-General of UNRWA,

As this conference takes place, life is being extinguished in Gaza.

We are all appalled by the horrors reported daily – from the indiscriminate killing of civilians, including children, to man-made starvation inflicted on the entire population.

Some days ago, I met virtually with my management team in Gaza.

They described people there as “neither dead, nor alive – walking corpses”.

Our frontline workers are surviving on one small meal a day, if that, and fainting from hunger while at work.

The exhaustion, anxiety, and isolation felt by my team in Gaza is overwhelming.

Words of outrage and condemnation are no longer adequate for what is unfolding.

There must be immediate action to impose a long overdue ceasefire, to reverse deepening starvation, and to release every hostage.

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Remarkably, my staff in Gaza have not entirely lost faith in the international community.

They remain committed to the people they serve and cling to the hope that they will not be forgotten.

My colleagues urged me to explain to you why the Agency they proudly work for is vital to the survival and future of Palestinians and of Gaza.

Once a ceasefire is in place, a massive scale-up of humanitarian assistance can be enabled by UNRWA’s large workforce, our unparalleled distribution networks, and our deep reserves of community trust.

These unique capacities are also indispensable for gradually bringing hundreds of thousands of traumatized children back to learning and providing psychosocial support – both crucial to avoid despair and future extremism.

Distinguished Chairs,

The situation across the occupied Palestinian territory has deteriorated alarmingly.

Compounding the decimation of Gaza, the annexation of the occupied West Bank is now a declared political objective – as is the dismantling of UNRWA.

In the West Bank, we are already witnessing the human cost of efforts to end UNRWA’s operations.

School closures in occupied East Jerusalem have deprived 800 Palestinian children of access to education, with no alternative provided.

Our schools and healthcare facilities provide vital public services that cannot yet be easily substituted by the Palestinian Authority.

The collapse of UNRWA and its services will further weaken the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank and compromise any future role it may play in Gaza.

The Agency’s collapse will undermine efforts to achieve a political solution, diametrically opposing the goals of this conference.

Distinguished Delegates,

In response to the very real possibility of the Agency imploding in the face of extraordinary adversity, Secretary-General Guterres requested a strategic assessment of the impact and exercise of UNRWA’s mandate under current constraints.

The assessment has been finalized and it proposes how the rights of Palestine Refugees may be protected.

I must underscore that UNRWA was always intended to be a temporary Agency.

That it continues to exist, and to be needed, reflects long-term failures to reach a political solution.

It is now for Member States to deliberate on the options presented in the assessment and to take bold, decisive, and immediate action.

Member States may determine – as done many times in the past – that UNRWA’s operations must adapt to serve the goals of a political solution.

We ask that Member State action is guided by what will protect and serve Palestine Refugees best, in full alignment with the overarching goals of the General Assembly when it first established UNRWA through Resolution 302.

Distinguished Delegates,

Peace may begin with political agreements, but it can only be sustained through the realization of human rights and the protection of human dignity through education, healthcare, and social development.

UNRWA is a tremendous asset if what we seek is a just and lasting solution to the question of Palestine and its people.

A genuine, time-bound political process would allow the Agency to finally transition its government-like services to empowered and prepared public institutions, while maintaining custodianship of the refugee status, collective history, and identity of Palestinians, until a political solution is complete.

I again urge Member States to act – the fate of millions of people is in your hands.

Thank you.