The head of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA), Swiss Philippe Lazzarini, on Tuesday called for an investigation into the deaths of more than 390 agency employees during the war in Gaza.
“I believe we need a panel of high-level experts to investigate the murder of our collaborators,” Philippe Lazzarini told the press in Geneva, on the last day of his mandate at the head of the agency. According to him, “more than 390” UNRWA personnel have been killed since the start of the war in Gaza in October 2023. “Many others have suffered disabling injuries or have been arbitrarily detained and tortured,” he added.
Investigations are also needed into the deaths of “other UN members, as complaints have also been filed on this subject,” as well as “the massive and unprecedented destruction of agency or UN premises in Gaza,” Lazzarini continued.
According to him, these Israeli attacks against the agency, combined with drastic budget cuts notably due to the drop in voluntary contributions, risked leading the agency “to its collapse”. He said he had raised the issue of an investigation with the office of UN Secretary-General António Guterres and UN member states in New York.
The question, he stressed, is “when is the right time to launch this process, because everything is polarized in this context”, and “the more time passes, the more difficult the task of the commission will be”.
The UN organization has long been the target of strong Israeli criticism, which intensified after the deadly Hamas attack in Israel on October 7, 2023. Israel accused the agency of bias and of being “infested with Hamas agents” and banned it from any activity on its territory in early 2025.
Created in 1949
Created by the UN General Assembly in 1949, UNRWA helps approximately 5.9 million Palestinian refugees. It notably manages health centers and schools in the Occupied Palestinian Territories, Lebanon, Syria and Jordan.
Following Israel’s accusations, an international investigation revealed some “neutrality issues” within UNRWA, but clarified that Israel had not provided conclusive evidence to support its main accusation regarding the employment of members of terrorist organizations in its ranks.
