Philippe Lazzarini condemned killing of 390+ staff in Gaza war since Oct 2023 at final briefing
\n new york
\nThe outgoing head of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) supporting Palestinian refugees said on Tuesday he wanted an investigation into the killing of nearly 400 staff during the conflict in Gaza.
\n\u201cI believe that we need to have a panel \u2026 a high-level panel of experts to look into the killing of our staff,\u201d Philippe Lazzarini told reporters in Geneva.
\nSpeaking at a press conference on the last day on the job as UNRWA commissioner general, the 62-year-old Swiss national condemned the fact that \u201cmore than 390\u201d of the agency\u2019s staff had been killed since the start of Israel\u2019s military offensive in Gaza in October 2023.
\n\u201cMany others have sustained life-changing injuries or have been arbitrarily detained and tortured,\u201d he said.
\nHe said an investigation was needed not just into the killing of UNRWA employees but also of other UN staff, stressing: \u201cThere have been other UN colleagues who have been also killed.
\n\u201cAnd we have to look also at the extraordinary, large-scale destruction of the agency, of UN premises in Gaza,\u201d Lazzarini said.
\nHe has warned that Israeli attacks on the agency, coupled with swingeing funding cuts, have left UNRWA facing \u201ccollapse\u201d.
\nHe said he had raised the issue of an investigation with the office of UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres and with UN member states in New York.
\nThe question, he said, was \u201cwhen is the right time to start this, as \u2026 everything in this context is polarised\u201d.
\n\u201cThe more time goes by, the more difficult the task for the commission will be in the future.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Philippe Lazzarini condemned killing of 390+ staff in Gaza war since Oct 2023 at final briefing new york The outgoing head of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) supporting Palestinian refugees said on Tuesday he wanted an investigation into the killing of nearly 400 staff during the conflict in Gaza. \u201cI believe that […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":539376,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-539362","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"yoast_head":"\n