Archiv: United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA)


22.11.2025 - 06:41 [ United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) ]

UNRWA Situation Report #197 on the Humanitarian Crisis in the Gaza Strip and the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem

(November 18, 2025)

The Gaza Strip

According to OCHA, heavy rain has affected over 13,000 households across the Gaza Strip, with hundreds of tents and makeshift shelters affected across the Strip. Immediate needs include winterization items including blankets, mattresses, tarps, jerricans, winter clothing, and tents. Many families temporarily sought refuge in UNRWA schools-turned-shelters after fleeing flooded sites.

According to OCHA, following the withdrawal of Israeli Forces from parts of the Gaza Strip under the ceasefire agreement, Israeli military strikes near or east of the so-called “Yellow Line” continue to be reported, resulting in casualties among civilians.

As of 10 November, the Site Management Cluster estimates that about 1 million people, out of a total population of 2.1 million, are residing in 862 displacement sites across the Gaza Strip. Among them, about 79,000 people are estimated to live in 85 UNRWA shelters and their surrounding areas.

As of 13 November, UNRWA operated 324 temporary learning spaces (TLS) across 58 shelters, providing in-person learning activities for over 40,000 children boys and girls, including in the northern area and Gaza City.

UNRWA has expanded by 40 per cent its provision of domestic water supply in Gaza City and the northern area, thanks to the rehabilitation of water well no. 3 in Jabalia (repaired on 5 November). The restored well now enables the Agency to provide clean water to an additional 20,000 residents, including returnees in the north.

UNRWA, as part of a joint team with MoH and PRCS, and with the support of UNICEF, continues its catch-up immunization campaign, with 2,042 children vaccinated and screened for malnutrition by UNRWA (29 per cent of total reached by the joint campaign).

The occupied West Bank including East Jerusalem

Israeli Forces continue to be deployed in the three northern West Bank refugee camps of Jenin, Tulkarm, and Nur Shams. According to a recent damage assessment conducted by the United Nations Satellite Centre (UNOSAT), further destruction has been rendered inside the camps, including newly expanded roads and additional earth mounds constraining access.

At least four Palestinian children were killed as a result of occupation-related violence, including one inside El Far’a refugee camp on the evening of 16 November.

24.10.2025 - 23:58 [ Fox News ]

Rubio slams UNRWA as a ‚subsidiary of Hamas,‘ vows it will not ‚play any role‘ in delivering aid to Gaza

„UNRWA‘s not going to play any role in it,“ Rubio said when asked about whether the controversial agency would assist in delivering humanitarian aid to Gaza. „The United Nations is here. They‘re on the ground. We‘re willing to work with them if they can make it work, but not UNRWA. UNRWA became a subsidiary of Hamas.“

22.10.2025 - 21:09 [ International Court of Justice ]

OBLIGATIONS OF ISRAEL IN RELATION TO THE PRESENCE AND ACTIVITIES OF THE UNITED NATIONS, OTHER INTERNATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS AND THIRD STATES IN AND IN RELATION TO THEOCCUPIED PALESTINIAN TERRITORY

223. For these reasons,

THE COURT ,

(1) Unanimously,
Finds that it has jurisdiction to give the advisory opinion requested;

(2) Unanimously,
Decides to comply with the request for an advisory opinion;

(3) Is of the opinion that the State of Israel, as an occupying Power, is required to fulfil its obligations under international humanitarian law. These obligations include the following:

(a) Unanimously,
to ensure that the population of the Occupied Palestinian Territory has the essential supplies of daily life, including food, water, clothing, bedding, shelter, fuel, medical supplies and services;

(b) By ten votes to one,
to agree to and facilitate by all means at its disposal relief schemes on behalf of the population of the Occupied Palestinian Territory so long as that population is inadequately supplied, as has been the case in the Gaza Strip, including relief provided by the United Nations and its entities, in particular the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East, other international organizations and third States, and not to impede such relief;
IN FAVOUR: President Iwasawa; Judges Tomka, Abraham, Xue, Nolte, Charlesworth, Brant,
Gómez Robledo, Cleveland, Tladi;
AGAINST: Vice-President Sebutinde;

(c) Unanimously,
to respect and protect all relief and medical personnel and facilities;

(d) Unanimously,
to respect the prohibition on forcible transfer and deportation in the Occupied Palestinian Territory;

(e) Unanimously,
to respect the right of protected persons from the Occupied Palestinian Territory who are detained by the State of Israel to be visited by the International Committee of the Red Cross; and

(f) Unanimously,
to respect the prohibition on the use of starvation of civilians as a method of warfare;

(4) By ten votes to one,
Is of the opinion that, as an occupying Power, the State of Israel has an obligation under
international human rights law to respect, protect and fulfil the human rights of the population of the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including through the presence and activities of the United Nations, other international organizations and third States, in and in relation to the Occupied Palestinian Territory;
IN FAVOUR: President Iwasawa; Judges Tomka, Abraham, Xue, Nolte, Charlesworth, Brant,
Gómez Robledo, Cleveland, Tladi;
AGAINST: Vice-President Sebutinde;

(5) By ten votes to one,
Is of the opinion that the State of Israel has an obligation to co-operate in good faith with the United Nations by providing every assistance in any action it takes in accordance with the Charter of the United Nations, including the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East, in and in relation to the Occupied Palestinian Territory;
IN FAVOUR: President Iwasawa; Judges Tomka, Abraham, Xue, Nolte, Charlesworth, Brant,
Gómez Robledo, Cleveland, Tladi;
AGAINST: Vice-President Sebutinde;

(6) By ten votes to one,
Is of the opinion that the State of Israel has an obligation under Article 105 of the Charter of the United Nations to ensure full respect for the privileges and immunities accorded to the United Nations, including its agencies and bodies, and its officials, in and in relation to the Occupied Palestinian Territory;

IN FAVOUR: President Iwasawa; Judges Tomka, Abraham, Xue, Nolte, Charlesworth, Brant,
Gómez Robledo, Cleveland, Tladi;
AGAINST: Vice-President Sebutinde;

(7) By ten votes to one,
Is of the opinion that the State of Israel has an obligation under Article II of the Convention on the Privileges and Immunities of the United Nations to ensure full respect for the inviolability of the premises of the United Nations, including those of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East, and for the immunity of the property and assets of the Organization from any form of interference;
IN FAVOUR: President Iwasawa; Judges Tomka, Abraham, Xue, Nolte, Charlesworth, Brant,
Gómez Robledo, Cleveland, Tladi;
AGAINST: Vice-President Sebutinde;

(8) By ten votes to one,
Is of the opinion that the State of Israel has an obligation under Articles V, VI and VII of the Convention on the Privileges and Immunities of the United Nations to ensure full respect for the privileges and immunities accorded to the officials and experts on mission of the United Nations, in and in relation to the Occupied Palestinian Territory.
IN FAVOUR: President Iwasawa; Judges Tomka, Abraham, Xue, Nolte, Charlesworth, Brant,
Gómez Robledo, Cleveland, Tladi;
AGAINST: Vice-President Sebutinde.

22.10.2025 - 21:08 [ United Nations ]

Israel is obliged to let aid flow into Occupied Palestinian Territory, says World Court

The International Court of Justice (ICJ) says that Israel must uphold its responsibilities as the “occupying power” by ensuring aid can flow freely and by respecting the rights of the UN and other humanitarian agencies working in the Occupied Palestinian Territory.

22.10.2025 - 17:09 [ South China Morning Post ]

ICJ orders Israel to allow UNRWA aid into Gaza amid ceasefire and famine crisis

The ICJ’s advisory opinion, issued during a fragile ceasefire, reinforces UN authority and affects global humanitarian missions

22.10.2025 - 16:24 [ Al Jazeera ]

World Court says Israel must ensure ‘basic needs’ of people in Gaza

The International Court of Justice (ICJ) says Israel must facilitate UN aid efforts in Gaza, including UNRWA’s, and must ensure “basic needs” of Gaza population.

22.10.2025 - 12:30 [ United Nations ]

United Nations Charter, Chapter XIV: The International Court of Justice

Article 96

(1) The General Assembly, the Governing Council or the Security Council may request the International Renewal Court of Justice to give an advisory opinion on any legal question.

(2) Other organs of the Renewed United Nations and specialised agencies, which may at any time be so authorised by the Governing Council or by the General Assembly, may also request advisory opinions of the Court on legal questions arising within the scope of their activities.

22.10.2025 - 12:25 [ United Nations ]

CONVENTION ON THE PRIVILEGES AND IMMUNITIES OF THE UNITED NATIONS Adopted by the General Assembly of the United Nations on 13 February 1946

SECTION 3. The premises of the United Nations shall be inviolable. The property and assets of the United Nations, wherever located and by whom soever held, shall be immune from search, requisition, confiscation, expropriation and any other form of interference, whether by executive, administrative, judicial or legislative action.

(…)

SECTION 30. All differences arising out of the interpretation or application of the present convention shall be referred to the International Court of Justice, unless in any case it is agreed by the parties to have recourse to another mode of settlement. If a difference arises between the United Nations on the one hand and a Member on the other hand, a request shall be made for an advisory opinion on any legal question involved in accordance with Article 96 of the Charter and Article 65 of the Statute of the Court. The opinion given by the Court shall be accepted as decisive by the parties.

22.10.2025 - 12:07 [ International Court of Justice ]

Obligations of Israel in relation to the Presence and Activities of the United Nations, Other International Organizations and Third States in and in relation to the Occupied Palestinian Territory

THE HAGUE, 9 October 2025. On Wednesday 22 October 2025, the International Court of Justice will deliver its Advisory Opinion on the Obligations of Israel in relation to the Presence and Activities of the United Nations, Other International Organizations and Third States in and in relation to the Occupied Palestinian Territory.

A public sitting will take place at 3 p.m. during which Judge Iwasawa Yuji, President of the Court, will read out the Advisory Opinion.

22.10.2025 - 12:05 [ Reuters ]

World Court to give opinion on Israel‘s obligations to allow aid to Palestinians

The opinion, which was requested by the U.N. General Assembly in December, will be closely watched as it could have effects beyond the Gaza conflict. It is expected to address the protections states must provide for U.N. staff worldwide.

(…)

The request for an ICJ opinion was prompted by a 2023 Israeli law that banned U.N. Palestinian refugee agency UNRWA from operating in the country, as it said the organisation had employed members of Hamas who took part in the attacks on Israel on October 7, 2023.

12.10.2025 - 13:39 [ Middle East Eye ]

Dozens of aid trucks enter Gaza as UN prepares for ‚surge‘ in deliveries

Aid trucks have begun to arrive, as UN agencies prepare to dramatically scale up deliveries as part of the ceasefire deal which stipulates that 400 trucks will enter the strip daily.

This is set to increase to 600 – the minimum number estimated by the UN required to address the humanitarian crisis in the strip.

10.10.2025 - 23:55 [ United Nations ]

Gaza: Aid teams repeat calls for unhindered access to stricken enclave

“There is little information available on the details or how the agreement will be implemented. However, we call for all crossings into Gaza to be open immediately so that humanitarian supplies can flow into the war-torn enclave,” said Juliette Touma, Director of Communications for the UN agency for Palestinians, UNRWA.

Her comments came as Israeli forces reportedly pulled back from parts of Gaza, in line with an agreement between Israel and Hamas, brokered in Egypt this week by US mediators and representatives from Qatar and Turkïye.

14.09.2025 - 17:27 [ United Nations ]

Gaza: International community must ‘match words with action’ now

Olga Cherevko, Spokesperson in Gaza for the UN aid coordination office OCHA, warned that history will not judge the international community “based on the speeches that we made” but rather on actions.

Speaking from Deir Al-Balah, she delivered a blunt message: “When Gaza burned, and children starved, and hospitals collapsed – did you act?”

She said this past Tuesday, Gaza City “was handed a death sentence”, with hundreds of thousands of battered civilians ordered to flee to an already overcrowded area where “even small animals have to search for spaces to squeeze between to move around.”

14.09.2025 - 17:18 [ Palestine Chronicle ]

Gaza Famine Deaths Reach 420 as UN Warns of ‘Death Sentence’ on Gaza City

UNRWA Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini said that the famine in Gaza is the direct result of deliberate restrictions on humanitarian aid, compounded by the destruction of vital infrastructure and repeated Israeli attacks on relief operations. “In 30 years of humanitarian work, I have never encountered such blatant disregard for the protected status of humanitarian workers,” Lazzarini added.

Olga Cherevko, spokeswoman for the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), warned that Israel has effectively “imposed a death sentence” on Gaza City. Speaking via video link from Deir al-Balah to journalists at the UN headquarters in New York, she said Palestinians are left with no choice but “leave or die.”

24.07.2025 - 20:36 [ Middle East Eye ]

In the face of Israel‘s genocide in Gaza, ongoing silence and inaction is complicity

For nearly two years, we have witnessed a live-streamed genocide. War crimes have been well-documented by journalists, rights groups, doctors and civilians. There’s enough evidence to sift through for decades to come.

Activists and celebrities have reminded the western world of their vow to “never again” allow something like this to happen. Countless social media campaigns have pleaded with the public to keep “all eyes on Rafah” and on Gaza.

But still the genocide persists. Israel’s actions in Gaza and the occupied West Bank have become more brazen and violent than ever.

Why is this happening? It’s not because Israel is a small beacon of democracy in the Middle East surrounded by enemies. Rather, it’s because Israel is a rogue state surrounded by capitulators who have allowed this to unfold.

23.07.2025 - 19:50 [ Daniel Neun / Radio Utopie ]

Any government in the world could expel the rogue state of Israel from the United Nations. None does.

(April 27, 2025)

It‘s not the world order that has failed the Palestinians. It‘s the world.

23.07.2025 - 18:32 [ Ärzte Ohne Grenzen ]

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– Die Blockade von Hilfslieferungen in den Gazastreifen beenden!
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21.07.2025 - 21:55 [ +972 Magazine ]

‘They’ll kill us all’: Gazans plead for intervention as Israeli attacks intensify

(April 7, 2025)

“We are civilians in our homes,” Al-Aqqad pleaded. “We don’t want to be displaced to unsafe areas. The army targets everyone without exception. We want the world to act and save us, otherwise they’ll kill us all.”

21.07.2025 - 18:43 [ Daniel Neun / Radio Utopie ]

Any government in the world could expel the rogue state of Israel from the United Nations. None does.

(April 27, 2025)

It‘s not the world order that has failed the Palestinians. It‘s the world.

21.07.2025 - 18:12 [ Middle East Eye ]

Gaza is a mirror reflecting the world‘s absolute shame: Opinion

Never in recent history has a civilian population been locked into a fenced strip of land – denied food, water, and fuel – while being bombed from air, land, and sea.

This is not siege. It is the world’s first televised extermination.

A concentration camp under constant aerial assault.

(…)

What is happening in Gaza does more than violate law – it obliterates it.

It tears through every principle of humanity, every treaty that claims to uphold it.

The world did not merely fail Gaza. It abandoned her. And in doing so, it exposed itself.

Gaza is not just a killing field.

She is a mirror – and in her reflection, we see our absolute, unvarnished shame.

21.07.2025 - 17:56 [ United Nations ]

Terror and chaos for Gaza’s people now entering the ‘death phase’

In an alert, the UN agency for Palestine refugees, UNRWA, relayed desperate testimonies from its colleagues who are also struggling to survive in the war-torn enclave.

“We’re in the death phase,” one UNRWA worker said. “Everything around people at the moment is death, whether it’s bombs or strikes, children wasting away in front of their eyes from malnourishment, from dehydration, and dying.”

Doctors and nurses who continue to work in the UN agency’s clinics and medical centres “are watching children disappear and die in front of their eyes, and there‘s absolutely nothing that they can do about it,” the worker continued.
Civilians ‘faced sniper and tank-fire’

The development comes after desperate Gazans seeking aid came under fire at the weekend “from Israeli tanks, snipers and other gunfire”, according to the UN World Food Programme (WFP).

In a detailed statement after the incident on Sunday 20 July, it explained that a 25-truck lorry convoy crossed the Zikim border point in northern Gaza “destined for starving communities”.

Shortly after passing the final checkpoint after the Zikim crossing point, the convoy encountered large crowds of civilians waiting to access food supplies. This was when the shooting began, leaving “countless” Gazans dead, WFP said, echoing reports by the health authorities.

Condemning the incident, WFP noted that the victims “were simply trying to access food to feed themselves and their families on the brink of starvation”. ….

17.07.2025 - 03:05 [ Daniel Neun / Radio Utopie ]

Any government in the world could expel the rogue state of Israel from the United Nations. None does.

(April 27, 2025)

It‘s not the world order that has failed the Palestinians. It‘s the world.

11.07.2025 - 20:24 [ United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) ]

UNRWA Situation Report #179 on the Humanitarian Crisis in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, including East Jerusalem

On 9 July, UNRWA Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini posted on X (previously known as Twitter) that “Israeli officials state they plan yet another mass displacement of the Palestinian people in Gaza towards Rafah. This would de-facto create massive concentration camps at the border with Egypt for the Palestinians, displaced over and over across generations. This would also deprive Palestinians of any prospects for a better future in their homeland.”
According to OCHA, people are confined to ever-shrinking spaces, with over 86 per cent of the Gaza Strip now within the Israeli-militarized zone, under displacement orders, or where these overlap. The UN estimates that over 725,000 people have been displaced yet again since the breakdown of the ceasefire.

11.07.2025 - 20:20 [ Anadolu ]

UNRWA warns Israel’s Gaza displacement plan would create ‘massive concentration camps’

Juliette Touma, UNRWA‘s director of communications, told Al Jazeera English that the agency “categorically refuses any forced displacement of any population.”

“If it happens, it will push further tens of thousands of people who have already been displaced many, many times during this current war but also over the generations, further south and from there into the unknown,” Touma said.

03.07.2025 - 22:39 [ Daniel Neun / Radio Utopie ]

Any government in the world could expel the rogue state of Israel from the United Nations. None does.

(April 27, 2025)

It‘s not the world order that has failed the Palestinians. It‘s the world.

27.06.2025 - 06:35 [ Daniel Neun / Radio Utopie ]

Any government in the world could expel the rogue state of Israel from the United Nations. None does.

(April 27, 2025)

It‘s not the world order that has failed the Palestinians. It‘s the world.

27.05.2025 - 22:29 [ Daniel Neun / Nachrichtenagentur Radio Utopie ]

Around 2.4 percent of human beings in Gaza have been annihilated – will you do something about it or not?

Do you demand from any NGO, any government, from the UNRWA director Philippe Lazzarini, from the United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres to stop their unbearable whining and finally kick this fascist gang of Benyamin Netanyahu out of the United Nations?

Do you?

If not – GET OUT OF THE WAY!

Best,
Daniel

20.05.2025 - 10:28 [ United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) ]

UNRWA Commissioner-General on Gaza: today, the UNRWA staff death toll has surpassed the gruesome milestone of 300

18 May 2025

From Philippe Lazzarini, the UNRWA Commissioner-General as posted on his official X account (previously known as Twitter)
Gaza: throughout this war, one of the most dreadful updates I regularly receive is the death toll on UNRWA
staff.

Today, that death toll has surpassed the gruesome milestone of 300.

The vast majority of staff were killed by the Israeli Army with their children and loved ones: whole families wiped out.

20.05.2025 - 10:24 [ Middle East Eye ]

‘The only thing entering Gaza right now are bombs,’ says Unrwa

In a post on X, Unrwa said “For 11 weeks, Israeli authorities have deliberately blocked all supplies to Gaza. The only thing entering Gaza right now are bombs. Nowhere is safe.”

It added: “Intensified Israeli bombardments from air, land, and sea have resulted in hundreds of casualties and mass displacement.”

09.03.2025 - 03:12 [ WAFA.ps ]

Albanese: Israel’s actions in Palestine constitute genocide, calls for Israel’s suspension from the UN

Albanese went on to clarify that UNRWA cannot disappear because it is a UN body protected by international law. „Member states cannot eliminate it by changing laws or cutting funding, as Israel and other countries have attempted. The rights of Palestinian refugees will remain intact because those rights are codified in international law.“

She also raised the issue of Israel’s violations against the UN, citing the destruction of 70% of UN premises in Gaza and the targeting of UNRWA schools, which had been sheltering refugees. „Israel has violated the UN Charter, and it must be held accountable for its actions. I have called for the suspension of Israel‘s credentials in the UN because of its disregard for international rules and laws. Israel has destroyed or damaged UN premises, targeted shelters, and accused the UN of terrorism.“

02.03.2025 - 23:40 [ Guardian ]

Israel is a rogue nation. It should be removed from the United Nations

(October 15, 2024)

One rogue nation cannot declare war on the UN itself and continue to get away with it

27.02.2025 - 00:12 [ United Nations ]

West Bank security situation remains alarming, warn UN aid agencies

Philippe Lazzarini, head of the UN’s Palestine refugee agency, UNRWA, said that “fear, uncertainty, and grief once again prevail. Affected camps lie in ruins…Destruction of public infrastructure, bulldozing roads and access restrictions are common place.“

More than 50 people including children have been killed since Israeli military raids started five weeks ago, the UN agency said, warning that the West Bank “is becoming a battlefield” where ordinary Palestinians are the first and worst to suffer.

Meanwhile, UN aid coordinating office, OCHA, also condemned the “lethal, war-like tactics” being employed by the Israeli military against Palestinian communities in the occupied West Bank.

OCHA confirmed further civilian casualties and mass displacement after a two-day Israeli military raid in the northern town of Qabatiya in Jenin governorate that ended on Monday.

11.02.2025 - 17:22 [ Middle East Eye ]

UN says 40,000 displaced in West Bank as Israel accused of readying annexation

Jamal Juma‘a, head of the Stop the Wall campaign, an organisation that fights against apartheid, told Middle East Eye that the Israeli offensive is „clearly aiming to prepare the infrastructure for the annexation of land“ in the West Bank.

Annexation of occupied territory is illegal under international law. The Israeli government prefers to term it as „applying sovereignty“, though that makes little difference legally. Legality hasn‘t stopped Israel from annexation before, however.