On the brink of a potential shutdown, the head of the UN's Palestine relief agency, UNRWA, Philippe Lazzarini, has called for urgent international action to prevent the collapse of essential services for millions of Palestinian refugees.

In an opinion piece published by The Guardian, Lazzarini warned that the agency faces the possibility of abandoning a "decades-long investment in human development and human rights" if it is dismantled.

He also cautioned that if Israeli legislation prevails, the humanitarian response in Gaza will crumble and deprive millions of Palestinian refugees of basic amenities in the West Bank, including the eastern part of al-Quds. It would also silence a voice testimony to the myriad traumas and injustices Palestinians have faced for decades, according to the agency's chief.

Last month, Lazzarini expressed that UNRWA is the backbone of a response for Palestine, and if it disappears from Gaza, the future generation would be sacrificed, noting that more than 650,000 children in Gaza are "deeply traumatized" and without a learning environment. 

In his statement, he emphasized that removing access to education and healthcare would harm generations of Palestinians, perpetuating the cycle of poverty and displacement.

He added that UNRWA’s current mandate is deeply connected to the Palestinian refugee issue, which remains unresolved. The agency was created to provide services to refugees until a political solution could be achieved, particularly the creation of a Palestinian state. Despite the agency’s historical context, its critics now aim to eliminate the recognition of Palestinian refugee status altogether, a move that could alter the parameters of any future peace negotiations.

The agency head explained how, in one direction, the international community has reneged on the pledge to find a political solution for Palestine and called it a "dystopian world" where "Israel" as an occupier is entirely responsible for the people of occupied Palestine, while "possibly subcontracting the occupation to private actors who are even less answerable to the international community."

However, he noted how in another direction "lies a world where the guardrails of the rules-based order hold firm and the Palestinian question is resolved by political means. remains steadfast in settling the issue by political means," which sets the course for a "two-state solution" while also strengthening the capabilities of a Palestinian government to rule a future Palestinian state, including Gaza.

Lazzarini expressed that UNRWA was designed to support the latter path. "Pending the establishment of a Palestinian state, the agency will be critical for ensuring that children in Gaza are not condemned to live in the rubble, without education and without hope," he stated, adding that only a functional state can educate hundreds of thousands of Palestinian children, as well as provide healthcare to millions more.

He expressed his belief that UNRWA can "progressively conclude its mandate, with its teachers, doctors, and nurses becoming the workforce of empowered Palestinian institutions" and concluded that there remains hope to avoid a "cataclysmic future where firepower and propaganda construct the global order, determining where and when human rights and the rule of law apply, if at all," and explaining that the world needs to have the "political courage" to do so.

In #Gaza, entire generations are being wiped out in an instant—infants, children, parents, and elders, all erased by Israeli airstrikes.

Just days ago, a #Palestinian man and his 3-year-old granddaughter, Reem, were both killed, a year after his heartbreaking farewell to her… pic.twitter.com/vro7kDHc33

— Al Mayadeen English (@MayadeenEnglish) December 19, 2024