Lazzarini said that instead of urgent solutions, the world has returned to the "blaming game," while Palestinians in Gaza starve and fight to survive.
Israel claims that around 900 aid trucks entered Gaza in the past two weeks. That equals just over 10% of the daily humanitarian needs, according to the UN. Reports from the ground state that many trucks have already been looted by Israeli-backed gangs.
“This is not enough,” Lazzarini said. “We are watching mass starvation unfold. It can be stopped. It only takes political will.”
During the temporary ceasefire earlier this year, the UN and UNRWA brought in 600 to 800 trucks a day.
“No aid was diverted,” Lazzarini noted. “That’s how we turned the tide and prevented a man-made famine.”
UNRWA and its partners say they are ready to respond again. Yesterday, the agency announced that a warehouse in Amman, just a three-hour drive from Gaza, holds enough food and supplies to support over 200,000 people for a full month.
Flour, food parcels, hygiene kits, blankets, and medical supplies are stocked and ready for immediate delivery. “Gaza needs aid at scale,” UNRWA stated. “An unhindered, uninterrupted flow must be allowed in.”
Gaza has been suffering from a catastrophic Israeli-made humanitarian crisis since Israel shut all border crossings on March 2. Food, medicine, fuel, and aid have been blocked while the Israeli army intensifies its assault.
Since October 7, 2023, Israel’s genocide in Gaza — fully backed by the United States — has killed or wounded over 177,000 Palestinians, most of them women and children. More than 11,000 remain missing, and hundreds of thousands have been displaced.
Lazzarini urged world leaders to act. “We are not asking for the impossible,” he said. “Let us do our work — help people in need and preserve their dignity.”
