Outgoing UNRWA head warns agency ‘may soon no longer be viable’ amid Israeli opposition

Warning from Philippe Lazzarini comes as the UN Palestinian refugee agency, which Israel accuses of colluding with Hamas, faces dire financial straits after US froze funding

The outgoing head of UNRWA, the United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees, has warned that the viability of the organization is in doubt and any collapse would result in Israel taking over its humanitarian work in Gaza.

The warning from Philippe Lazzarini comes at a decisive moment for UNRWA, which has suffered from months-long funding problems, with no one set to permanently fill Lazzarini’s role when he departs on March 31.

In addition to longstanding claims that the agency helps perpetuate the conflict and foster antisemitism, Israel accuses UNRWA of widespread collusion with Hamas in Gaza, and in October 2024 passed a law banning the UN agency from operating on Israeli soil.

In a letter to the president of the UN General Assembly dated March 17, Lazzarini said challenges facing UNRWA included Israel’s repeated efforts against it, such as a raid on UNRWA’s East Jerusalem offices in December and the alleged killing of over 390 of its employees in Gaza during the war that was sparked by the October 7, 2023, Hamas massacre.

“I must inform you that UNRWA may soon no longer be viable, with potentially far-reaching consequences for Palestine refugees at a time when the region faces seismic political and security challenges,” Lazzarini said in the letter.

“I must state my horror that a United Nations entity has allowed to be crushed as UNRWA has, in violation of international law, with its staff and Palestinian communities paying an unacceptable price,” he added, saying Palestinian refugees have been “callously betrayed.”

Lazzarini said in the letter that UNRWA’s work was vital for implementing the Gaza peace plan and that Israel would have to assume responsibility for Palestinians in Gaza, the West Bank and East Jerusalem if UN states did not urgently provide political and financial support.

“The risks of fueling further regional instability and harming Palestinian rights are immense,” he said.

Lazzarini, who was appointed by the UN chief Antonio Guterres, will be temporarily replaced by Britain’s Christian Saunders, currently a UN Special Coordinator, from April 1 until further notice, a UNRWA spokesperson said.

UNRWA was established in 1949 following Israel’s 1948 War of Independence. It provides aid, health and education to millions of Palestinians in Gaza, the West Bank and neighboring Arab countries — Syria, Lebanon and Jordan.

Some 5.9 million people are registered as Palestinian refugees by UNRWA, because they are descended from Arabs displaced in the war surrounding Israel’s creation in 1948.

Israel has long argued that UNRWA perpetuates the Israeli-Palestinian conflict by using this definition of refugee, the only case in which the status is passed down generationally.

It is one of two UN refugee agencies. While UNRWA caters to Palestinians, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees is responsible for all other refugees around the world.

Israel has also long accused UNRWA of letting its educational facilities play host to incitement against the Jewish state and glorification of terrorism.

Since the Hamas-led onslaught of October 7, 2023, Israel has alleged that some UNRWA staff took part in the shock assault and that over 10 percent of employees in Gaza had ties to terror groups.

At least one Israeli hostage abducted in the onslaught has said she was held in an UNRWA facility, and the IDF has repeatedly targeted Hamas command centers and gunmen hiding out in UNRWA schools.

Washington was long UNRWA’s biggest donor, but froze funding in January 2024 after Israel accused agency staff of taking part in the October 7 attack.