46,000 Gaza deaths is likely an undercount by more than 40%

Philippe Lazzarini, UNRWA Commissioner-General

Nine days ago, the long-awaited ceasefire in Gaza began.

We are heartened by the return of Israeli hostages and imprisoned Palestinians to their families.

We are encouraged by marked improvements in the flow of humanitarian aid and in operating conditions.

We hope that the ceasefire will hold and that the tremendous suffering in Gaza will subside.

UNRWA is the largest UN presence in Gaza, with 13,000 personnel and 300 premises.

The Agency is critical for supporting a shattered population and the ceasefire.

And yet, in two days, our operations in the occupied Palestinian territory will be crippled, as legislation passed by the Israeli Knesset takes effect.

At stake is the fate of millions of Palestinians, the ceasefire, and the prospects for a political solution that brings lasting peace and security.

Mr. President,

In the wake of the ceasefire, we must contend with the devastation of the last 15 months, and the enormity of the challenges ahead.

A peer-reviewed study of death by traumatic injury in Gaza reveals that the mortality figure provided by the Ministry of Health is a minimum estimate.

46,000 deaths is likely an undercount by more than 40 percent.

The study also confirms that the majority of those killed are women, children and the elderly.

Those who escaped death by bombardment, starvation and disease have emerged shell-shocked.

Tens of thousands of people are now returning to the decimated north, to search for the living and to bury the dead.

Across the Gaza Strip, Palestinians are turning to UNRWA – the Agency they have known all their lives – for support.

Curtailing our operations now – outside a political process, and when trust in the international community is so low – will undermine the ceasefire.

It will sabotage Gaza’s recovery and political transition.

Members of the Council,

Full implementation of the Knesset legislation will be disastrous.

In Gaza, undermining UNRWA’s operations will compromise the international humanitarian response.

It will degrade the capacity of the United Nations just when humanitarian assistance must be scaled up significantly.

This will only worsen the already catastrophic living conditions of millions of Palestinians.

The Government of Israel claims that UNRWA’s services can be transferred to other entities.

In fact, the Agency’s mandate to provide public-like services to an entire population is unique.

Our capacity to directly provide primary healthcare for millions of Palestinians, and to resume education for hundreds of thousands of children, far exceeds that of any other entity.

These services can only be transferred to a functioning state.

The Government of Israel claims that UNRWA plays a negligible role in providing humanitarian assistance in Gaza.

In fact, UNRWA constitutes half the emergency response, with all other entities delivering the other half.

Since October 2023, we have delivered two-thirds of all food assistance, provided shelter to over a million displaced persons, and vaccinated a quarter of a million children against polio.

Since the ceasefire began, UNRWA has brought in 60% of the food entering Gaza, reaching more than half a million people.

We conduct some 17,000 medical consultations every day.

Less quantifiable, but critical for the humanitarian response and the ceasefire, is community acceptance.

Palestinians know and trust UNRWA.

For them, UNRWA is the doctors and nurses providing healthcare; the aid workers distributing food; and the mechanics and engineers building and repairing wells for clean drinking water.

The Agency’s mere presence brings stability amid profound uncertainty.

In the occupied West Bank, where violence is surging, ending UNRWA’s operations will deprive Palestine Refugees of education and healthcare.

The Palestinian Authority has made clear that it does not have the financial resources or capacity to compensate for the loss of UNRWA’s services.

In occupied East Jerusalem, the Government of Israel has ordered UNRWA to vacate its premises and cease operations by Thursday.

This will affect approximately 70,000 patients and more than a thousand students.

The deputy mayor has called for a public celebration of UNRWA’s expulsion from East Jerusalem opposite the headquarters of our West Bank field office in the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood.

It is on this land that local authorities are planning to build illegal settlements.

The relentless assault on UNRWA is harming the lives and future of Palestinians across the occupied Palestinian territory.

It is eroding their trust in the international community, jeopardizing any prospect for peace and security.

Mr. President,

The Knesset legislation defies resolutions of this Council and the General Assembly.

It flouts the rulings of the International Court of Justice.

It disregards that UNRWA is the mechanism established by the General Assembly to provide assistance to Palestine Refugees, pending a political answer to the question of Palestine.

Implementing the legislation makes a mockery of international law and imposes massive constraints on UNRWA’s operations.

We are determined, however, to stay and deliver until it is no longer possible to do so.

This is not without risk for our Palestinian colleagues, who face an exceptionally hostile operating environment fostered, in part, by a fierce disinformation campaign.

Members of the Council,

The Government of Israel is investing significant resources to portray the Agency as a terrorist organisation, and our staff as terrorists or terrorist sympathizers.

Billboards and ads accusing UNRWA of terrorism recently appeared in major cities around the world.

They were paid for by the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Google ad campaigns re-direct those seeking information about the Agency to websites replete with disinformation.

The absurdity of anti-UNRWA propaganda does not diminish the threat it poses to our staff, especially those in the occupied West Bank and in Gaza – where 273 of our colleagues have been killed.

It sets a precedent for governments to accuse a United Nations entity of terrorism as a pretext to clamp down on human rights.

It sets a precedent for criminalizing humanitarian assistance and protection.

This year, propaganda efforts spearheaded by the Israeli Foreign Ministry received a boost of 150 million dollars.

The political attacks on the Agency are motivated by the desire to strip Palestinians of their refugee status, thereby unilaterally changing the long-established parameters for a political solution.

The objective is to deny Palestine Refugees the right to self-determination and erase their history and identity.

Let me be clear, the rights of Palestine Refugees to protection and assistance are not derived from UNRWA’s mandate.

They exist independently of the Agency.

And if UNRWA ceases to protect and assist Palestine Refugees, their rights will not only remain, but there will be much greater emphasis on the right to return or to be resettled, for which UNRWA has no mandate.

Mr. President,

A ceasefire in Gaza must be followed by a political transition that includes an orderly conclusion of UNRWA’s mandate, and the handover of its public-like services to empowered and prepared Palestinian institutions.

This is the path now pursued by the Global Alliance for the Implementation of the Two-State Solution, led by Saudi Arabia, the European Union and the League of Arab States.

Only a political pathway of this nature can ensure the protection and welfare of Palestine Refugees, and peace and security in the region and beyond.

A clear choice lies before us:

We can allow UNRWA to implode due to the Knesset legislation and the suspension of funding by key donors.

The repercussions of this implosion will not be confined to national borders and will only further destabilize the region.

Alternatively, we can allow the Agency to progressively conclude its mandate within the framework of a political process.

UNRWA was always meant to be temporary.

A fair and lasting political solution would allow the Agency to handover its services and workforce to a Palestinian administration.

UNWRA has much to offer in support of a political solution.

The Agency is the largest provider of primary healthcare in Gaza, and the second-largest in the West Bank.

Our health services and expertise are integral to building a strong national health system.

UNRWA also has a pivotal role to play in education.

In Gaza today, 650,000 girls and boys are living in the rubble, learning nothing more than how to survive.

They have already lost more than two years of learning.

Absent a full-fledged State, only UNRWA has the capacity to bring these children back to learning.

So great is the enthusiasm for resuming learning in Gaza that more than 260,000 children – half of them girls – enrolled in our online learning platform this month.

If we fail to resume education in Gaza, and to preserve it in the occupied West Bank, we will sacrifice an entire generation of Palestinian children.

Members of the Council,

The threat posed by political efforts to dismantle UNRWA is compounded by financial challenges, with key donors deciding to end or reduce their contributions to the Agency.

I am appealing for an urgent increase in financial support to UNRWA, the early disbursement of allocated funds, and a review of funding currently on hold.

I also take this opportunity to underscore the Agency’s longstanding commitment to neutrality.

A detailed presentation at UNRWA’s Advisory Commission meeting last November made clear that our High-level Action Plan to implement the recommendations of the Colonna Report is on track.

We will also continue to take all necessary steps to investigate credible allegations made against the Agency and its personnel.

Mr. President,

Members of the Council,

Implementing the Knesset legislation will heighten instability and deepen despair in the occupied Palestinian territory at a critical moment.

I am seeking your decisive intervention in support of peace and stability in the occupied Palestinian territory and the broader region.

First, push back against the implementation of the Knesset legislation.

UNRWA’s personnel and services are integral to the success of the ceasefire.

Second, insist on a genuine political path forward that delineates UNRWA’s role as a provider of education and healthcare.

The Agency is essential for ensuring a viable political transition.

Finally, ensure that a financial crisis does not abruptly end UNRWA’s lifesaving work.

The Agency cannot continue to operate in the face of extraordinary challenges without adequate resources.

In closing, I would like to share with you a message received from a young person in Gaza last week.

It is a stark reminder of the heavy responsibility we bear.

[begin quote]

“I am writing to you from the rubble of a home that once was a place of warmth and life […]

Now, my days are spent searching for the most [basic] necessities, like flour to feed my family.

What truly breaks me is my helplessness in the face of children […]

Their innocent eyes seek safety I cannot provide [and] answers I do not have […]

Around us, the elderly sit in silence, their hearts weighed down by decades of loss and suffering […]

And here I am […] dying a thousand times every day as I think of all that I cannot do for them.”

[end quote]

Unlike the author of this message, we are in a position to do something.

It only requires your decisive action and leadership.