The head of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA), Philippe Lazzarini, has issued a grave warning that Israel's latest threat against civilians in Gaza City signals the preparation for "large-scale massacres." This condemnation comes after the Israeli government declared that any Palestinians remaining in the area would be defined as "terrorists or terror supporters."
In a powerful social media post, UNRWA Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini condemned the Israeli government's statement, interpreting it as an ominous threat to the nearly 250,000 people trapped in Gaza City and the north. He stated that this labeling is "a statement suggesting planned large-scale massacres: killing more women, children, elderly and vulnerable people unable to move out." Lazzarini emphasized that no one has the license to kill civilians and warned that ongoing international crimes in Gaza, which a UN Commission of Inquiry has concluded constitute genocide, cannot continue to be tolerated. He stressed that further inaction would lead to more complicity, urging that it is "Time to act".
Lazzarini's warning is situated within a broader international legal framework that has already begun to characterize Israel's actions in Gaza as genocidal. A United Nations Commission of Inquiry reported that it concludes "on reasonable grounds that the Israeli authorities and Israeli security forces have committed and are continuing to commit" acts of genocide against Palestinians in Gaza. These acts include killing members of the group, causing serious bodily or mental harm, and deliberately inflicting conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction.
The strategy of using essential resources as a weapon has been a recurring theme. Earlier this year, Lazzarini had already accused Israel of "weaponising humanitarian aid" through its blockade on goods and electricity into Gaza. He warned then that the situation was "deteriorating very, very quickly" and risked a renewed hunger crisis. This tactic was also highlighted in a UN report covered by the BBC, which detailed the "imposition of 'inhumane conditions causing the death of Palestinians, including the deprivation of food, water and medicines,'" a reference to the blockade that has produced a famine.
The current threat against Gaza City occurs in the context of a systematic campaign to dismantle the primary humanitarian infrastructure supporting Palestinians. Earlier this year, Israel passed laws banning UNRWA's operations in areas under its control. Lazzarini warned at the time that full implementation of these laws would be "catastrophic," and that dismantling UNRWA would undermine ceasefire agreements and sabotage Gaza's recovery. He criticized a "fierce, global disinformation" campaign against the agency, funded by the Israeli foreign affairs ministry, which had received a funding boost of about one sixth of UNRWA's annual budget for such propaganda.