25 July 2025
From Philippe Lazzarini, the UNRWA Commissioner-General as posted on his official X account (previously known as Twitter)
Gaza : A constructed and deliberate mass starvation. Today, more children died, their bodies emaciated by hunger.
The flawed distribution system (GHF) is not designed to address the humanitarian crisis.
It’s serving military and political objectives. It’s cruel as it takes more lives than it saves lives.
Israel controls all aspects of humanitarian access, whether outside or within Gaza.
Airdrops are the most expensive and inefficient way to deliver aid. It is a distraction to the inaction.
When bureaucratic and political hurdles are lifted, the humanitarian community has demonstrated it can deliver assistance at scale, in a dignified way, without diversion.
During the ceasefire in earlier this year, we succeeded to reverse the deepening hunger.
Today, UNRWA alone has the equivalent of 6,000 trucks of food and medical assistance stuck in Egypt and Jordan.
The unfolding famine can only be reversed by a political will.
Make “never again” a reality.
If we fail the Palestinians in Gaza, others are likely to be failed too in the future.
Let’s not set a dangerous and irreversible precede
Document Sources: United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA)
Subject: Access and movement, Armed conflict, Assistance, Food, Gaza Strip, Human rights and international humanitarian law, Hunger, Refugees and displaced persons
Publication Date: 25/07/2025
URL source: https://www.unrwa.org/newsroom/official-statements/unrwa-commissioner-general-gaza-constructed-and-deliberate-mass-starvation