Philippe Lazzarini, the leader of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees (UNRWA), urged for more international pressure on Israel to collaborate with the U.N.
In a Friday post on X, the platform previously known as Twitter, Lazzarini referenced referenced a Thursday directive from the International Court of Justice (ICJ) to Israel to make it easier for humanitarian aid to enter Gaza. The directive also emphasized the importance of using land crossings for supplies.
“Countries should apply more pressure to follow the ICJ directive,” Lazzarini mentioned in his post. “Those who stopped funding UNRWA should reconsider their decision to enable the Agency to fulfill its mandate including preventing famine.”
Last week, Cindy McCain, executive director of the United Nations’ World Food Programme (WFP), stated that there is an urgent need for food in Gaza due to the ongoing war.
“Our obstacles are numerous,” McCain mentioned in an interview on MSNBC’s “Andrea Mitchell Reports”. “We have to go through clearance at every level, the Israelis obstruct whether we are cleared or not… drivers are cleared, we don’t have access on the roads. We require clear, unrestricted entry to reach a large scale, so we can feed the millions of people who are on the brink of famine.”
The ICJ’s directive followed a request from South Africa for the U.N. high court to take further action as a previous ruling from January did not improve the current severe humanitarian situation in Gaza. In their recent directive, the ICJ stated that Gaza’s situation has worsened since January.
“The Court notes with regret that, since then, the terrible living conditions of the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip have deteriorated further,” the ICJ mentioned in the directive, “especially considering the prolonged and widespread lack of food and other basic necessities that the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip have experienced.”
