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Continuity: Gaza situation update – UNRWA Philippe Lazzarini 14 December 2023
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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
So good afternoon.
Welcome to this press conference by the Commissioner General von Ram 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 good afternoon.
Thank you for being here.
I arrived in Geneva on Tuesday evening, in fact, for the conference straight from Gaza.
And 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 Rafa, in the extreme South of the Gaza Strip, which is nearby the Egyptian border.
Now Rafa is the epicentre of the displacement of the Gazan.
There is over 1,000,000 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 the place to host into duration more than 1,000,000 people and certainly not the entire Gaza Strip.
People are now pushed into this area, which does not represent, in terms of superficy, more than 1/4 of the Gaza Strip.
One UNWA 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 why before we used to have overcrowded shelter, more than 1,000,000 people are living in UN premises.
When I visited this warehouse we had 10s of thousands of people in the outside, which is in fact the extension of what happened.
The overcrowding taking place in the warehouse.
Basically the lucky 1 as 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 at 8 trucks taking the food and eating it right away.
And this is how desperate and hungry they are.
And I witness this first hand.
So just to re explain what I said here, because it's difficult to 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 10s 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 one who are in the warehouses.
And this has nothing to do with a 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 1-2 or three days.
And this is the reason why we see people stopping sometimes trucks downloading and eating on the spot.
Now let me just say also few words regarding the security in in Gaza.
As of today, we have 135 UN Mustafa 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 UNRWA 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 Nation premises, about 150 situation where our premises have been hit all 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 survivor in these places have just no choice but to stay in this shelter despite the fact that they 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 location with all the party 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 right or international human internal 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, our colleagues, member of the media, let me thank you and your colleague in the region and beyond for covering what the people of Gaza are going through.
But not only the people of Gaza, I mean anyone in 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'm 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 accusation.
And as Commissioner General of UNRWA, I have experienced this more than once since our agency is also one of the target of 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 **** fatalities, injuries, arrest.
Basically, there is no single day without an incursion, a secretary operation leading to the killing of a Palestinian.
Fear among the resident in the West Bank is also growing and we start to observe some displacement of Palestinian significant and increasing set of violence, including the the use of fire 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.
Palestinian are not working in Israel anymore.
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 has 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, the human turned ceasefire and welcome the decision or the support of 153 member state at the General Assembly.
It is now time that this call for immigrant ceasefire be translated into reality #2 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 need of a desperate population if the crossing 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.
And last, I believe we have to make sure, and I know we see 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 carte.
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 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.
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 statehood, peace and stability.
Peace and stability.
That's what the region deserve also.
Thank you.
Thank you very much, Philippe.
Yes, I see many, many hands.
As you know, we are webcasted, but it's a mean person.
So I'll give the priority to the journalist in the room.
You're many, numerous.
Give me a second.
I'll start with the ATS with Laurent Sierra.
Thank you.
Thank you.
General Commissioner, First, as you've been vocal after the vote at the National Council on on Monday, this morning there was a more positive vote for you at the Conside Visitor.
So what's your comment and maybe because it's not the end of of the trip, could you say what's the 20 million francs could change now in Gaza, for instance, so that the Swiss parliamentarian can realise what's at stake?
And then briefly, it seems that the Israeli army announced 4 hour humanitarian pause in Al Salam neighbourhood in, in Rafah today.
Could you verify that?
And what a four hour humanitarian post change in the current situation?
Thank you.
Yes, thank you.
I, I sorry, OK, Coming.
Yes, I heard about the decision of the Upper House this morning.
It's as far as I'm concerned, it's a positive development.
It's important that Switzerland continue to tell to the Palestinian and to the region that it remains committed to its human turn tradition.
As you heard me before, we are confront confronted with an unprecedented war.
I think it's a war of all the possible super Latifah in terms of destruction, in terms of number of people killed, in terms of need, in terms of displacement.
And more than ever, countries with humanitarian tradition should continue to express their solidarity.
And today the main agency in the Gaza Strip is UNWAR.
And would UNWAR collapse, the entire humanitarian system in the Gaza Strip would collapse.
So this 20 million are absolutely essential for UNWAR to continue to deliver its life saving and humanitarian assistance in the Gaza Strip.
But beyond that, there is also the message coming from a Member States, coming from the country depository of the Geneva Convention, to tell the Palestinian that international humanitarian law does apply to everyone, including to the Palestinian.
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 Vitesse, as I would say in France.
And on the second question, sorry, I cannot confirm or infirm because I haven't been informed about this.
Usually few hour pause allow people just to move from one place to the other one.
In the past, pauses allowed people to replenish, but today in Gaza there is absolutely no market, so there is nothing to RIP in Asia.
So most of the time the post is just a respite from the bombardment.
Plus give some time the possibility to people to move from one place to another to another one.
OK, I've seen an Yuri Aprelev 3rd anniversary 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.
In English.
OK, OK.
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The responsibility respective.
Thank you very much, Reuters, Emma.
Thank you.
Good afternoon.
I wanted to know about the scope of of your reach inside Gaza.
With so many people in Rafa.
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?
And can you just clarify on the on the food aid trucks?
I know stealing is a strong and judge mental 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 Iranian governorate and also the middle region.
We have almost no access to the north.
I think we had access to the north during the pause, but after the pause 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, 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 water that people in Rafa have started to decide to help themselves directly from the trucker out of total despair and started to, you know, eat what they have taken out of the trucker 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 CIS tyre, 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 Rafa is not enough.
That's the reason why we are calling for the opening of Karem Shalom.
Karem Shalom is a crossing which used to handle hundreds of trucks everyday.
It is.
It is gear to bring in commodities.
If we if we would have the market, people would have alternative.
But today they don't have alternative 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.
I in fact, I would like to ask, I, I, I think we have time just maybe for two more questions, please brief Anya's Pedrero ISP.
For me it's a brief.
Maybe.
And yes, he's there.
Yes, thank you.
I will ask the the question in English.
Yesterday, still on the same issue, the the Kogat published a video on the social media saying that it was a Hamas who is taking the food on the trucks and with violence.
So I understand that you have seen some scenes by yourself, but do you have other informations concerning possible actions by the Hamas on those trucks?
And you mentioned displacements in West Bank.
Could you let us know where these people is going, is going or are 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 this truck and started to grab whatever they could grab.
Usually when you talk about diversion, it's at scale, it's under the constraint and it's usually to bring after that you know the goods in a different location.
That has absolutely not be the case.
I haven't heard any of our trucks, the UN 1, the UNRWA one will have been diverted the way you are describing right now.
When it comes to the displacement in the West Bank, what we keep hearing, it's like Janine, if you have a big operation going on in the refugee camp, people are getting out of the camp, go in the broader governorator, usually move to broader family, extended family, but do not, do not stay anymore in the area of the incursion.
And we keep hearing now that displacement start to take place, but it always limited in fact in the same governorate for the time being.
It's not a a broader displacement than that.
Thank you very much.
The last question, John Zaragostas, France van Katter and The Lancet.
It's right there.
It's right there, John.
Oh, yes, yes, Mr Lazzarini, the UN have told us that the flash appeal has only been 39% 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 beside the Swiss, you mean the Swiss have increased their contribution?
That's a yes.
I did not hear about additional commitment right now, but many delegation have informed us that they are working on seeking, they're working on at, at increasing their contribution.
We, we have seen since the beginning of the war, at least when it comes to Anwar that our flash appeal has been it's slightly, it's maybe covered at 50% hours, but it brings the overall at 37.
Of course, it's not at scan.
Of course, for a crisis of the scope, one would have expected a much higher funding level.
Now as we know also is we not only need funding today, but once we will be talking about a day after, the funding required will be much, much, much higher.
Otherwise, it would 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 to the Commissioner General for this press conference.
Come back anytime and have a nice afternoon.
Thank you.