In Gaza, ‘every hour counts’, says UNRWA chief in ceasefire plea
The head of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA, repeated his urgent call for a ceasefire in Gaza on Friday, amid increased military Israeli activity in the enclave’s largest city.
“Every hour today counts, the more we wait, the more people will die,” said Philippe Lazzarini, UNRWA Commissioner-General, who highlighted the many lethal dangers confronting Gazans today.
“Either they will die because of the military operation under bombardment, or they die because they could not be assisted in time and they are silently dying because of hunger,” he told UN News in Geneva.
“They’re even dying because they try to desperately seek for food going to these infamous distribution places of the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation,” Mr. Lazzarini said, referring to the controversial non-UN aid hubs where supplies are distributed to those able to walk to them and carry away lifesaving relief.
According to the UN human rights office, OHCHR, since 27 May and until 17 August, 1,857 Palestinians have been killed “while seeking food”, including 1,021 killed near Gaza Humanitarian Foundation sites. Another 836 Palestinians have been killed on supply truck routes; “most of these killings appear to have been committed by the Israeli military”, OHCHR noted.
The UNRWA chief also echoed the UN Secretary-General’s appeal on Thursday for an immediate halt to the Israeli military escalation in Gaza City and the release of all hostages taken in Hamas-led terror attacks that sparked the war in October 2023.
The violence “has to stop immediately”, Mr. Lazzarini said. “People living in Gaza are now in a state of famine which has been declared about a week ago and now we are talking about a major military offensive, with a total evacuation of an extremely weakened population.”
Repeated mass displacement has become commonplace in Gaza, including for one UNRWA worker in the north of the enclave, reportedly uprooted for the nineteenth time and forced to seek shelter, the agency said earlier this week.
The problem is that nowhere is safe in Gaza, Mr. Lazzarini insisted, responding to reports of further bombing in the coastal shelter of Al Mawasi near Khan Younis.
Hundreds of thousands of Palestinians displaced to Al Mawasi have little or no access to essential services and supplies, including food, water, electricity and tents.
Despite this dire situation, “there is no other place than Al Mawasi for the people there to go because the rest of the Gaza Strip are in a military zone with active fighting taking place,” he explained. “But even Al Mawasi…is not safe for the people because it can also be the targeting of a bombing. It's just unspeakable.”
Despite ongoing Israeli restrictions on the amount of aid reaching Gaza reported by UN aid coordinators, the UNRWA chief insisted that the agency’s staff are still providing lifesaving support to Gazans.
In addition to dispensing at least 15,000 medical consultations a day at UNRWA primary health centres, the UN agency screens children for acute malnutrition, manages waste management to prevent communicable disease spread and works to give access to safe drinking water. Some 100,000 people still shelter in its schools.
“Where UNRWA cannot function for the time being is when it comes to food distribution, to the delivery of lifesaving items to the people, because we have been constrained and prevented to bring anything since the ceasefire broke down in March this year,” Mr. Lazzarini explained.
STORY: Gaza update – Philippe Lazzarini, UNRWA
TRT: 2’37”
SOURCE: UNTV CH
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH/ NATS
ASPECT RATIO: 16:9
DATELINE: 29 AUGUST 2025 GENEVA, SWITZERLAND
Speaker:
SHOTLIST
1
1
1
Edited News | OHCHR , UNOG
The telecommunications shutdowns in Afghanistan in September had serious and far-reaching impacts on people’s lives, according to a briefing paper published today by the UN Human Rights Office and the UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA).
1
1
1
Edited News | OHCHR , UNOG
UN Human Rights Office spokesperson Jeremy Laurence at the UN Geneva press briefing made the following comment on the ASEAN declaration on the right to a healthy environment.
1
1
1
Edited News | IFRC , OCHA , WMO
‘Catastrophic’ Hurricane Melissa hours from landfall in Jamaica as humanitarians rush to save lives
Millions in Jamaica and across the Caribbean are bracing for massive impact from Hurricane Melissa on Tuesday as the UN and partners are warning of a “severe” and “immediate” humanitarian threat.
1
1
Edited News | WHO
‘We need all routes to open’: in Gaza WHO calls for ramp-up of medevacs, easier access for essentials
Two weeks since a ceasefire agreement entered into force in Gaza the World Health Organization (WHO) noted progress on the flow of aid while calling for more evacuations of critical patients and eased entry for essential medicines and supplies.
1
12
1
1
Edited News | WMO , UNITED NATIONS
UN chief urges boost to life-saving weather warning systems, stresses role of climate change science
No country is safe from the devastating impacts of extreme weather — and saving lives means making early-warning systems accessible to all, UN chief António Guterres said on Wednesday.
1
1
1
Edited News | WFP
Gazans’ response to food distributions ‘overwhelming’ as humanitarians scale up under fragile ceasefire
In Gaza, the ceasefire is enabling UN humanitarians to reach more desperate people with life-saving food, but greater access is needed to contain the spread of famine.
1
1
1
Edited News | WFP , OCHA
UN urges opening of all Gaza crossings to deliver three-month food supply
The UN World Food Programme (WFP) has warned food aid cannot reach everyone in Gaza unless all border crossings are opened, particularly in the north where famine was declared in August. The agency says it already has enough supplies in place to feed the entire population of the Strip for three months – if full access is granted by Israel.
1
1
1
Edited News | UNDP , UNICEF , OCHA , ICRC
Around $70 billion will be needed to reconstruct Gaza and make it safe after two years of war, UN development experts said on Tuesday, while aid agencies reported that far too little aid continues to reach desperate Palestinians.
1
1
1
Edited News | OHCHR
The UN human rights office, OHCHR, on Friday welcomed the Nobel Peace Prize committee’s decision to name Maria Machado as this year’s laureate, in recognition of her work promoting the Venezuelan people’s democratic hopes.
1
1
1
Edited News | UNRWA , UNICEF , WHO
As Gazans jammed the main route leading north on Friday after a ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas was announced, UN aid teams repeated their call to open all crossings into the devastated enclave to prevent famine spreading.
1
1
1
Edited News | OCHA , UNICEF , WHO
Two years of Gaza-Israel war bring ‘indescribable’ pain: UN humanitarians
Two years since the Hamas-led terror attacks on Israel, UN humanitarians on Tuesday reiterated calls for the release of all hostages in Gaza, an immediate ceasefire and an aid surge to alleviate Palestinians’ suffering, as talks on a US-driven peace plan continued in Egypt.
1
1
1
Edited News
Syria prison survivor seeks justice for the missing with UN backing.