The United Nations Office at Geneva
Multimedia Newsroom
Continuity: Gaza situation update – UNRWA Philippe Lazzarini 14 December 2023
/
32:50
/
MP4
/
2 GB
Edited News , Press Conferences
UNRWA Press conference with Mr. Philippe Lazzarini - 14 December 2023
STORY: Gaza situation update – UNRWA
TRT: 04:07”
SOURCE: UNTV CH
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH
ASPECT RATIO: 16:9
DATELINE: 14 December 2023 - GENEVA, SWITZERLAND
SHOTLIST
- Exterior wide shot: Global Refugee Forum at Palexpo in Geneva
- SOUNDBITE (ENGLISH) – Philippe Lazzarini, UNRWA Commissioner-General: ““Basically, the lucky ones are those who have a place inside our premises and especially now that winter has just started. But the others have absolutely nowhere to go, they live in the open, they live in the cold, in the mud and under the rain. Everywhere you look is congested with makeshift shelters, everywhere you go people are desperate, hungry and are terrified.”
- Cutaway: Wide shot, press briefing held at the Global Refugee Forum in Geneva
- SOUNDBITE (ENGLISH) - Philippe Lazzarini, UNRWA Commissioner-General: ““This has nothing to do with aid diversion, this is something which has to do with a total despair the people are expressing in the Gaza Strip. Hunger is something people in Gaza have never ever known before. But hunger has now emerged over the last few weeks and we meet more and more people who haven’t eaten for one, two or three days.”
- Cutaway: Wide shot, press briefing held at the Global Refugee Forum in Geneva
- SOUNDBITE (ENGLISH) – Philippe Lazzarini, UNRWA Commissioner-General: ““What continues to shock me is the ever-increasing level of dehumanization, the lack of empathy and humanity, the fact that people can laugh, cheer and mock and any type of wrongdoing that we observe in this war when in fact, what is happening in Gaza should outrage anyone, should make us all rethink our values. Think, this is also a make-or-break moment for all of us and for our shared humanity”.
- Cutaway: Medium shot, press briefing held at the Global Refugee Forum in Geneva
- SOUNDBITE (ENGLISH) - Philippe Lazzarini, UNRWA Commissioner-General: ““I am horrified at the smear campaign that targets Palestinians and those who provide aid to them. And on that, I am asking you to help us to push back against misinformation and inaccuracies. I know that some of you are constantly doing fact checking. But fact-checking is absolutely key if we want accurate information.
- Cutaway: Medium shot, press briefing held at the Global Refugee Forum in Geneva
- SOUNDBITE (ENGLISH) - Philippe Lazzarini, UNRWA Commissioner-General: ““In suffering there’s absolutely no competition and I believe that ultimately in this war there will be no winner. The longer this war goes on, the largest loss, but beyond that, the deeper the grief. So, I think like many of my colleagues, that there is absolutely no alternative to a proper, genuine political process to end once for all the longest lasting unresolved conflict. 75 years without a solution.”
- Cutaway: Medium shot, press briefing held at the Global Refugee Forum in Geneva
- SOUNDBITE (ENGLISH) - Philippe Lazzarini, UNRWA Commissioner-General: “We are confronted with an unprecedented war, I think it’s a war of all possible superlatives, in terms of destruction, in terms of the number of people killed, in terms of needs, in terms of displacement, and more than ever, countries with a human tradition should continue to express their solidarity , and today the main agency in the Gaza Strip is UNRWA. And would UNRWA collapse, the entire humanitarian system in the Gaza Strip would collapse.”
- Cutaway: Medium shot, press briefing held at the Global Refugee Forum in Geneva
STORYLINE
“This is a make-or-break moment for all of us and our shared humanity,” UNRWA Commissioner-General Lazzarini
Returning from his third visit to Gaza since the war started, the head of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, Philippe Lazzarini, said on Thursday that “every time I see more misery, grief and sadness”.
Briefing journalists in Geneva 69 days since the Israeli bombardment began in response to the 7 October Hamas terror attacks in southern Israel, Mr. Lazzarini, UNRWA Commissioner-General, said that in in southern Rafah governorate, “basically, the lucky ones are those who have a place inside our premises and especially now that winter has just started. But the others have absolutely nowhere to go, they live in the open, they live in the cold, in the mud and under the rain. Everywhere you look is congested with makeshift shelters, everywhere you go people are desperate, hungry and are terrified.”
From the sidelines of the Global Refugee Forum in Geneva, Mr. Lazzarini explained that he saw people stopping aid trucks, offloading food and eating it immediately.
“This has nothing to do with aid diversion, this is something which has to do with a total despair the people are expressing in the Gaza Strip,” he said. “Hunger is something people in Gaza have never ever known before. But hunger has now emerged over the last few weeks and we meet more and more people who haven’t eaten for one, two or three days.”
With more than one million people looking for shelter there, Mr. Lazzarini said that UNRWA facilities are massively overcrowded.
“What continues to shock me is the ever-increasing level of dehumanization, the lack of empathy and humanity, the fact that people can laugh, cheer and mock and any type of wrongdoing that we observe in this war when in fact, what is happening in Gaza, should outrage anyone, should make us all rethink our values. Think, this is also a make-or-break moment for all of us and for our shared humanity,” he said, in reference to inflammatory social media posts.
Urging the media to help, Mr. Lazzarini said that he was “horrified at the smear campaign that targets Palestinians and those who provide aid to them. And on that, I am asking you to help us to push back against misinformation and inaccuracies...Fact-checking is absolutely key if we want accurate information.”
Mr. Lazzarini reiterated his call for the opening of the Kerem Shalom crossing which handled the daily passage of hundreds of commercial trucks before it was shut on 7 October.
“We are confronted with an unprecedented war, […] a war of all possible superlatives, in terms of destruction, in terms of the number of people killed, in terms of needs, in terms of displacement, and more than ever, countries with a human tradition should continue to express their solidarity, and today the main agency in the Gaza Strip is UNRWA.” He reminded that should UNRWA collapse, “the entire humanitarian system in the Gaza Strip would collapse.”
Mr. Lazzarini concluded his briefing by saying that “in suffering there’s absolutely no competition and I believe that ultimately in this war there will be no winner.” He added that “the longer this war goes on, the largest loss, but beyond that, the deeper the grief. […] There is absolutely no alternative to a proper, genuine political process to end once for all the longest lasting unresolved conflict. 75 years without a solution.”
-ends-
Teleprompter
Good afternoon.
Welcome to this, press conference, Uh, by the Commissioner General UNRWA
Philippe
Lazzarini. We are here at the in Geneva at the global Refugee Forum.
As usual, we will hear some initial remarks by the commissioner General.
And then we will open the floor to questions
Commissioner General.
Thank you. Thank you so much. And, uh, good afternoon. Thank you for being here.
I arrived in Geneva on Tuesday evening.
Um uh, in fact, for the conference, uh, straight from, uh, Gaza
and, uh, Gaza was, in fact, my third visit since the war started.
Today we are in the 69 days, almost 70 days of this war. And every time
I go back,
I always think it cannot get worse.
But every time
I see more misery, more grief, more sadness
and have the feeling that
Gaza it's not really a place
habitable
anymore.
On this visit, I stayed in Rafah in the extreme south of the Gaza Strip,
which is nearby the Egyptian border.
Now Rafah is the epicentre of the displacement of the Gazan.
There is over 1 million people who have fled in this governorate
and most of them as we know have been moved
more than once since the beginning of the war.
Rafa
has quadrupled
its number of people overnight,
and especially when the offensive in the south has started.
It traditionally has been a place where the
poorest of the Gaza stripper used to live.
And basically it's a place which lacks
infrastructure
and all the basic. I'm saying this
because it's not a place to host into duration more than 1 million people
and certainly not the entire Gaza SPI
People are now pushed into this area,
which does not represent in terms of super
facy. More than a quarter
of the Gaza Strip.
One una
warehouse that became a shelter is now home to more than 30,000 people.
This is a place I visited in our warehouses,
and basically families live in tiny spaces separated only by blankets
or plastic sheeting
since the beginning of the war.
But what has changed
compared to my last visit
is while before
we used to have
overcrowded shelter. More than 1 million people are living in UN premises.
When I visited this warehouse, we had tens of thousands of people
in the outside,
which is in fact the extension
of what happened. The overcrowding taking place
in
the warehouse.
Um, basically,
the lucky ones
are those who have a place
inside our premises
and especially now that winter has just started.
But the others
have absolutely nowhere to go. They live in the open. They live in the cold, in the mud
and under the rain.
Everywhere you look
is congested with makeshift shelters.
Everywhere you go, people are desperate, hungry and are terrified
people.
And this is also something
completely new.
People are stopping
a trucks,
taking the food and eating it right away,
and this is how desperate
and hungry they are.
And I witnessed this firsthand.
So just to reexplain what I said here, because it's difficult to comprehend
because of
the immensity
of the needs
and because of the little aid trickling into Gaza,
it is becoming more and more difficult
to reach our shelter, which are overcrowded,
because outside
you have tens of thousands
of people
who are desperately in the same kind of needs,
and they need also to be supplied
and assisted
in order
to be able to reach
the ones who are
in the warehouses.
And this has nothing to do
with aid diversion.
This is something which has to do
with the total
despair
that people are expressing in the Gaza Strip.
Hunger
is something people in Gaza have never ever
known before.
But hunger
has now emerged
over the last few weeks,
and we meet more and more people
who haven't eaten for 12
or three days.
And this is the reason why
we see people
stopping, sometimes trucks, downloading
and eating on the spot.
No,
let me
just say also a few words regarding
the security in Gaza.
As of today,
we have 135
una who
have been killed
since the beginning of the war,
and you heard me many times.
No place has been spared,
not even
the places which normally should be protected
by the law
of war.
I was absolutely horrified
yesterday
when I saw a video circulating
of an on a school being blown up
in northern Gaza
School.
Medical and UN facilities
are not
and should never, ever
be a target.
Unfortunately,
in Gaza
they have quite often become
just that
we have
since the beginning of the war, recorded
when it comes to United Nations premises
about 150
situations where our premises have been hit,
or directly
or indirectly.
And this has led to the killing of more than 270 people
and the injuries of more than 1000.
And some of the survivors
in these places
have just no choice but to stay in
this shelter
despite the fact
that there have been no hit.
Why,
just because again, there is absolutely
nowhere to go
in the Gaza Strip.
And let me also remind
that
as far as the UN is concerned,
we keep sharing the coordinate of all the locations
with all the parties of the conflict, both the Israeli army
but also
the de facto
in Gaza.
Now
let me also
highlight
that
people there
believe
that their life
are not equal to other life
and they have the feeling
that in reality, human rights or international humanitarian law
does not really apply to them.
There is a deep, deep sense
and feeling of betrayal.
There is a sense of feeling that people
have been abandoned by the international community,
but in reality,
like anyone else in Gaza,
people just long for safety and stability,
they just long for
life.
They just want to have a normal life.
But they are very far away
right now
to this normal life.
What continues to shock me
is the ever increasing level of dehumanisation,
the lack of empathy and humanity.
The fact that people can laugh, cheer
and mock any type of
wrongdoing
that we observe in
this war,
when in fact
what is happening in Gaza
should outrage anyone
should make us all rethink
our values.
I think
this is also
a make or break moment
for all of us
and for our shared humanity.
Since we are here
with you, a colleague's member of the media,
let me thank you and your colleagues in the region and beyond for covering
what the people of Gaza
are going through.
I don't only the people of Gaza, I mean anyone in
the region, because it's really impacting anyone
and beyond.
As you all know,
this war is also fought on TV screen
and on social media.
It's also
a media war.
I am horrified at
the smear campaign
that target Palestinian
and those who provide aid to them.
And on that
I'm asking you to help us push back
against
misinformation
and inaccuracies.
I know that some of you are constantly doing fact checking,
but fact checking is absolutely
key. If we want
accurate information,
just always make sure
to verify
and debunk repeated and sometimes vulgar
accusations.
And
as commissioner general of UN,
I have experienced this
more than once since our agency is also one of the targets for this war.
Before I close, let me also share the latest on the situation in the West Bank where
we are also recording. And we should not forget the highest level of violence
in nearly two decades since the second intifada
with record high fatalities, injuries, arrest. Basically
there is no single day without
an incursion. A secret operation leading to the killing
of a Palestinian
fear among the residents in the West Bank is also growing,
and we start to observe some displacement of Palestinians.
Significant and increasing set of violence, including the use of
firearm,
is also spreading.
We all know that a lot of arms now have been distributed
in the West Bank,
but also
and here we have a perfect storm in the making.
Economically and financially, the economy is collapsing.
Palestinians are not working in Israel.
More
Israeli
Arab
are not doing shopping anymore
in the West Bank
there is no real movement anymore from one city to the other one
out of here.
And we also know that the Palestinian authorities have difficulties
to pay salary. This is economically a perfect storm in the making in the West Bank.
So maybe let me just end with
the free ask I shared Also yesterday,
when I address the plenary of the Global Refugee Forum
first
humanitarian ceasefire
I welcome the decision
or the support of 153 member states at the General Assembly.
It is now time that this call for a humanitarian ceasefire
be translated into reality.
Number two.
The siege
of Gaza
needs to be lifted
and
what we need today
is not just 100 trucks or 200 trucks.
We need meaningful
at scale, uninterrupted,
unconditional flow of basic commodities in the Gaza Strip. This is the only way
to reverse
the negative impact
of
the siege.
We, as humanitarian
alone,
will not succeed
to cover
all the needs of a desperate population
if the crossings are not properly open.
If the commercial sector
is not properly
coming back into Gaza.
They have been denied any access Now for 70 days
a N,
I believe her.
We have to make sure.
And I know we said it since day one,
and I know it is a call for all of us.
But international humanitarian law
should still have a meaning.
It needs to have a meaning also
in the context of Gaza,
it cannot be just
reinterpreted
a la
Carta.
This war
has also rules, and it is time that these rules be properly applied
just to conclude.
I think there is no suffering
in suffering. There is absolutely no competition.
And I believe
that ultimately in this war
there will be
no winner.
The longer this war goes on,
the larger the loss.
But beyond that,
the deeper the grief.
So
I think
like many of my colleagues,
that there is absolutely no alternative
to a proper, genuine political process
to end once for all
to the longest
lasting
unresolved
conflict,
75 years
without a solution.
It has not been a priority
over the last decade. It
is time that this becomes a proper priority
to end
Israeli and Palestinian
deserve state of peace
and stability,
peace and stability. That's what the region deserve Also.
Thank you.
Thank you very much, Philip.
I see many, many hands. Uh uh.
As you know, we are Webcast, but it's an in person, so I give the priority, uh,
to the journalist in the room.
You are many numerous. Give me a second.
I'll start with the A TS with Laurence Sierra.
Thank you. Thank you.
Uh, General Commissioner, Um, first, as you've been vocal, uh uh,
after the vote at the National Council on on Monday
this morning there was
a more positive vote for you at the Cone
de
Zeta.
So what's your comment? And maybe because it's not the end of of the trip.
Uh, could you say what the 20 million francs could change now in Gaza, for instance,
So that the Swiss Parliamentary can realise what at stake
and then briefly,
it seems that the Israeli army announced a four hour humanitarian post in Al
Salam neighbourhood in in Rafah today. Could you verify that? And
what a four hour humanitarian, Uh uh post change in the current situation.
Thank you.
Yes, sir. Thank you.
I, I
sorry.
Ah, ok.
Coming
Yes, I heard about the decision of the upper house this morning.
As far as I'm concerned, it's
a
positive development.
It's important that Switzerland
continue to tell
to the Palestinians and to the region
that it remains committed to its humanitarian tradition.
As you heard me before,
we are
confronted
with an unprecedented war.
I think it's a war of all the possible super
native in terms of
destruction in terms of the number of people
killed in terms of need in terms of displacement
and more than ever,
countries with
tradition should continue
to express their solidarity.
And today
the main agency
in the Gaza Strip
is UN
A
and would UN
W a collapse. The entire I
system
in the Gaza Strip
would collapse,
so
these 20 million
are absolutely essential
for UNRWA to continue to deliver
its life saving and
assistance
in the Gaza Strip.
But beyond that,
there is also
the message
coming from a
member state coming from the country
depository
of the Geneva Convention,
to tell the Palestinians
that international humanitarian
law
does apply
to everyone,
including to the Palestinians.
And this message of reassurance is absolutely key
because today in the region
there is still a
feeling
that this might be implemented
at the VT,
as I would say in French
And on the second question Sorry, I ca I ca I
I cannot confirm or in film because
I haven't been informed about this. Uh,
usually
few hour polls
allow people just to move from one place to the other one
in the past,
uh,
poses allow people to replenish.
But today in Gaza, there is absolutely no market, so there is nothing to replenish.
So
most of the time, the poll is just a respite from the bombardment.
Plus
gives some the possibility
to people to move from one place to another
to another one.
Ok, I've seen an UI
apple
left for
university.
Those who have raised their hands if you can keep it up a little bit.
So I'm I'm taking notes of the various requests. Thank you. I think you've got more
me in
English or in
Ok,
OK,
OK.
Refugee,
Palestinian,
Palestinian.
So
the national
the
Thank you very much. Uh, Reuters. Uh,
Emma.
Thank you. Good afternoon. Um, I wanted to know about the scope
of, uh, your reach inside Gaza. Uh, with so many people in Rafah.
Are you able to reach the people at all outside of Rafa now?
And what are your concerns for the conditions that they are living in?
How long has it been since they'd had any help?
Um, and can you just clarify on the on the food aid? Uh, trucks.
I know stealing is a strong
and judgmental word, but
are people essentially grabbing it off trucks or is it being distributed?
If you could just clarify what was happening there. Thank you.
Right now, we
we have
easier access
for the people in Rafa.
We have access
to the
Kunits
Governorate
and also the middle region.
We have
almost no access to the North. I
think we had access to the North during the polls, but after the polls, it has become
extrinsically
difficult.
Now,
what I tried to describe before
is how
the operating environment
is becoming
more and more
impossible.
And
you you
you
heard about
the letter I sent last week to the president of the General Assembly.
And basically it was also a call saying
that we are
teetering on the edge
of a possible implosion.
We might reach our limit. Why
because there is more and more a breakdown of a civil order.
And
as long the humanitarian assistance
remain a crumble
compared to the immensity of the needs,
the more this tension will continue,
the more the environment is becoming impossible.
So the example I gave to you
was indeed
the example of that I witnessed. In fact, I saw it under my eyes and my watch
that
people
in Rafa
have
started to decide to help themselves
directly from the truck
out of total despair
and
started to, you know,
eat
what they have taken out of the truck
on the spot.
So indeed,
I cannot speak about stealing
or diversion.
I am trying to put my feet
in the shoes of the people
and most likely
we might try
out of despair
to do the same.
Now, with this growing despair,
our operating environment
becomes more and more difficult, and this is
the only way
at this stage
in the absence of a ceasefire.
To
address it
and to reverse this tension
is to bring
assistance at scale.
We need to bring it at scale. It needs to be meaningful.
People need to know that it is coming in.
And I also believe that for that graph
is not enough
That's the reason why we are calling for the opening
of
kms.
Kem
Sharon
is a crossing
which used to handle
hundreds of trucks
every day.
It
is geared to bring in
commodities.
If we
if we would have
the market,
people would have alternatives.
But today they don't have alternatives because there is no market anymore.
Even if you have money today
in Gaza,
you cannot do
a lot with your money.
Emma.
Sorry, we we really are short on time. In fact, I would like to ask II.
I think we have time. Just maybe for two more questions, please. Brief
and yes,
Pedrero
Maybe,
Uh and yes, she's there.
Yes. Thank you.
Um, I will ask the the question in English.
Um, yesterday, uh, still on the same issue. The the coat
published a video on the social media
saying that it was a Hamas who is, uh, taking, uh,
the food on the trucks and with violence.
So II I
and that you have seen some, uh, scenes by yourself.
But do you have other informations? Uh, concerning, uh, possible?
Uh um actions by the Hamas on those trucks
and you mentioned displacement in West Bank.
Could you let us know where these people is? Go. R is going or a RE going?
Yes.
on the first one,
I can tell you that
what I saw
there were no weapon. It was generally people from the community
who,
out of despair,
stopped
the truck
and started to grab whatever they could grab.
usually when you talk about diversion,
it's at scale.
It's, uh, under the constraint,
and
it's usually to
bring after that, you know, the goods
in a different location.
That has absolutely
not been the case.
I haven't heard
any of our trucks.
The UN one, the UN W a one
would have been diverted to the way you are describing
right now.
When it comes
to the displacement
in the West Bank,
what we keep hearing it like in Jenin. If you have
a big operation going on
in the refugee camp, people are getting out of the camp. Go in. The broader governor
usually move
to broader family extended family.
But
do not stay any more
in the area of
the incursion.
Um, and we keep hearing now that displacement start to take place,
but it's always limited.
In fact,
in the same governorate for the time being.
It's not a broader displacement than that.
Thank you very much. The last question. John De
Costas, Frans Van Katter and the Lancet.
It's right there. It's right there, John.
Oh, yes,
yes.
Uh, Mr Lazzarini,
the UN have told us that the
flash appeal has only been
39 per cent funded for the 1.2 billion
in your two days here meeting with delegations.
Have you got any concrete pledges besides the Swiss? Of increasing
funds that can be used immediately by your agency and other UN partners,
Especially the shelter crisis and the food crisis that you just described?
Thank you.
When you say. Besides the Swiss,
the Swiss have increased their contribution.
That's
a
of
yes, uh, I.
I did not hear about
additional commitment right now,
but many delegation
have informed us
that they are working on seeking uh uh uh they're working on at at increasing
their contribution
we have seen
since the beginning of the war. At least when it comes to
that, our flash appeal has been slightly.
It may be covered at 50 per cent
hours,
but it brings the overall at 47.
Of course, it's not at scale.
Of course, For a crisis of this scope,
one would have expected a much higher
funding level.
Now,
as we know also
is we not only need funding
today,
but, uh, once we will be talking about a
day after
the funding required
will be much, much, much higher.
Otherwise, there will be absolutely
no future for the people
in Gaza.
Thank you very much. I am afraid we have to stop here. Thanks for coming.
And thanks the commissioner General, for this press conference. Come back any time
and have a nice afternoon. Thank you.