UNRWA Chief Calls US-Israeli Gaza Aid Mechanism a ‘Distraction from Atrocities’
Tokyo (Quds News Network)- Philippe Lazzarini, Commissioner-General of UNRWA, criticized the US-backed aid distribution mechanism in Gaza, calling it a “distraction from Israeli atrocities.”
During a news conference at the Japan National Press Club in Tokyo, Lazzarini said, “The crisis in Gaza cannot be addressed by weaponizing humanitarian assistance, to apply political and military pressure.”
“Aid must be brought into Gaza without obstruction.”
On Tuesday, thousands of starving Palestinians made their way to an aid distribution point run by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF). With the Israeli helicopters and drones hovering above and gunfire echoing nearby, families, including women and children, faced great difficulty reaching the food distribution site in southern Gaza’s Rafah, as the GHF began its operations.
Desperate civilians scrambled over barriers and squeezed through dense crowds to access the vital supplies.
“The occupation forces, positioned in or around those areas, opened live fire on starving civilians who were lured to these locations under the pretence of receiving aid,” Gaza’s Government Media Office said in a statement on Tuesday.
It added that the incident “provides undeniable evidence of the Israeli occupation’s total failure in managing the humanitarian catastrophe it has deliberately created”.
Footage captures the moment Israeli occupation forces opened fire at Palestinians near the American aid company’s point in Rafah, southern Gaza. pic.twitter.com/4qqM2idTJB
— Quds News Network (@QudsNen) May 27, 2025
In a statement earlier, the Israeli military claimed its forces did not direct gunfire towards the Palestinians but rather fired warning shots in an outside area.
Three people were killed and 46 injured in the attack. Seven others reported missing, according to the Media Office.
Commenting on the Tuesday chaos and aid massacre, Lazzarini said the incident was “chaotic, undignified and unsafe”.
“I believe it is a waste of resources and a distraction from atrocities,” he said of the mechanism put in place by the US and Israel.
“We already have an aid distribution system that is fit for purpose. The humanitarian community in Gaza, including UNRWA, is ready.”
A spokesman for the UN secretary-general, Antonio Guterres, said the images and videos from the aid points set up by GHF were “heartbreaking, to say the least”.
“We and our partners have a detailed, principled, operationally sound plan supported by member states to get aid to a desperate population,” Stephane Dujarric told reporters.
“Humanitarian aid needs to be distributed in a way that is safe under principles of independence [and] impartiality – in the way we’ve always done it… We saw the plan that they’ve [Gaza Humanitarian Foundation] published and that they presented to us, and it is not done with the parameters that we feel match our principles, which we apply across the board, from Gaza to Sudan to Myanmar, to anywhere you want to talk about.”
Several reports and journalists in Gaza said hungry residents forced to stand outside a facility holding aid rushed inside because of delays conducting detailed security checks on recipients.
According to Israeli army sources cited by Israeli media, Americans affiliated with the GHF had to be rescued once they lost control of the facility.
Photos and videos circulated on social media showed hundreds of people lined up at one of GHF’s distribution sites near the so-called “Morag Corridor” in Rafah.
At the site, people saw signs that read: “You are now in a humanitarian zone. Do not approach the beach or residential buildings.”
Aid distribution to displaced families has failed due to Israel’s ongoing starvation policy in Gaza. The Israeli occupation forces have established only one aid distribution point for 2 million people, worsening the situation.
The continued blockade and obstruction of aid have… pic.twitter.com/R6e4Vzdap1
— Quds News Network (@QudsNen) May 27, 2025
Recipients are required to enter through an electronic gate, where they are met by Arabic-speaking individuals wearing vests marked “Security”, before being handed a box, according to those who collected the aid.
The GHF is a controversial aid organization backed by the United States, linked to the Israeli government and tasked with the delivery of aid to Palestinians in the besieged enclave.
Its first operations in Gaza began on despite reports that the new group did not have the experience or capacity to bring relief to more than 2 million Palestinians in Gaza.
The UN and other aid agencies have warned that the GHF plan is not neutral, violates humanitarian principles, and may expose civilians to harm. They have also said the model would increase forced displacement in Gaza. The UN has refused to participate in the plan.
On Sunday, Jake Wood, the Executive Director of the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), resigned.
The organisation could not adhere “to the humanitarian principles of humanity, neutrality, impartiality, and independence, which I will not abandon,” he said in a statement, and called for Israel to allow the entry of more aid.
“My heart broke over the famine crisis in Gaza, and I felt a deep obligation to do everything in my power to alleviate the suffering,” he wrote.
On Sunday, a Haaretz investigation revealed that several Israeli businessmen are among GHF’s owners.
On Saturday, Israeli Ambassador to the US Yechiel Leiter confirmed that Israel helped create GHF. He made the statement in an interview with PragerU, a right-wing American media outlet.
The NGO, which claims it has been based in Geneva since February, emerged from “private meetings of like-minded officials, military officers and business people with close ties to the Israeli government”, according to The New York Times.
TRIAL International, a Geneva-based NGO, said Friday it had filed two legal submissions requesting a formal probe into GHF’s activities and legal status in Switzerland, reported Reuters.
On March 2, Israel announced the closure of Gaza’s main crossings, cutting off food, medical and humanitarian supplies, leading to an unprecedented deterioration of humanitarian conditions, according to reports by human rights organisations who have accused it of using starvation as a weapon of war against Palestinains.
The Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) report warned that almost a quarter of the civilian population would face catastrophic levels of food insecurity (IPC Phase Five) in the coming months.
However, after about 80 days of total blockade and starvation and widespread international outrage, Israel announced about a week ago it will allow a very limited passage of aid trucks into the enclave through several international organizations until the new US-Israeli aid mechanism begins.
