UNITED NATIONS: The UN Palestinian relief agency has a vital role to play in Gaza’s reconstruction even though it wasn’t consulted on a nascent US peace plan for the territory, its head told AFP Thursday.
UNRWA, the main humanitarian agency for Palestinians, supplied health care, welfare and education services in Gaza before Israel launched its devastating assaults on the territory in retaliation for Hamas’s October 7, 2023 attack.
“UNRWA is present in Gaza with 12,000 staff right now. On a daily basis, against all odds, our staff continue to provide primary health,” UNRWA Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini said in an interview on the sidelines of high-level UN meetings in New York.
“UNRWA is certainly the one who has the best expertise and workforce when it comes to primary health and to education.”
Lazzarini said that while he had not seen the substance of the mooted US plan for Gaza, a 21-point blueprint for a ceasefire and reconstruction of the devastated strip, UNRWA was a “key asset for the international community.”
