Yahoo TV

STORY: :: UNRWA's chief says law and order in Gaza is breaking down

:: June 25, 2024

:: Geneva, Switzerland

:: Philippe Lazzarini, UNRWA Commissioner-General

:: "I have to say, it's becoming more and more complicated. It has been extraordinarily excruciating over the last few weeks to bring aid. Far too many trucks have been looted, have not reached properly destination. The number of crossings remains far too limited. And basically we are confronted now with these, to a near total breakdown of law and order and with truck drivers being a regularly threatened or assaulted and less and less willing to move assistance from the border to our warehouses and from warehouses to the people."

:: "You might have heard about the cigarette smuggling, which is the latest type of smuggling taking place in Gaza, where we have been reported that one cigarette costs between 20 and 30 dollars. So you multiply it by the number of cigarettes in one pack and then 'la cartouche' (bundle of cigarette packets), and that gives you in fact the value of this cigarette in Gaza."

Established in 1949 following the first Arab-Israeli war, UNRWA provides services including schooling, primary healthcare and humanitarian aid in Gaza, the West Bank, Jordan, Syria and Lebanon.

Earlier this year, many countries paused payments to the agency following Israel's claims that some UNRWA staff were linked to Palestinian armed groups. Asked about funding, Lazzarini said all but two of those countries, the United States and Britain, had since resumed funding.

The agency currently has enough funding to finance operations until the end of August, he added.