Sharon Zhang
Truthout / July 15, 2024
“Another episode in the blatant disregard of international humanitarian law,” said the head of UNRWA.
After months of successive attacks on humanitarian aid facilities, Israeli forces have now “completely destroyed” the headquarters of the primary aid group for Palestinian refugees in Gaza, the agency reports.
Israeli forces attacked the facility as they carried out their horrific raid of Gaza City last week, leaving nothing but rubble in its place. The building was one of many operated by the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA), the largest aid group for Palestinians in Gaza and beyond.
UNRWA Commissioner Philippe Lazzarini said that Israel’s attack on the facility represents a “blatant” war crime.
“Shocking. UNRWA headquarters in Gaza, turned into a battlefield and now flattened,” he said. “Another episode in the blatant disregard of international humanitarian law. United Nations facilities must be protected at all times. They must never be used for military or fighting purposes.”
UNRWA’s director of external relations, Tamara Alrifai, told Al-Jazeera English in an interview that the headquarters are now “unrecognizable” compared to what Alrifai has seen in previous visits — a contrast that speaks “volumes” regarding Israel’s violations of international law.
Just since October, Israeli forces have attacked 190 UNRWA facilities in Gaza — over half of the group’s buildings in the region — and killed 197 UNRWA workers. Israel’s genocide in Gaza has killed the most humanitarian aid workers of any military conflict in recent history.
The sheer destruction caused by Israel’s relentless bombing campaign has made Gaza uninhabitable for myriad reasons. The amount of rubble alone would take workers 15 years to clear, the UN Environment Program estimates, and will cost at least $500 million.
The rubble, which hundreds of thousands of Palestinians have had to navigate in the past week due to yet another set of Israeli attacks and forced evacuation orders, also contains unexploded ordnances that create deadly hazards for those passing through.
Last week, UNRWA reported that, as Palestinians run out of places to flee to — and as Israel bombs areas it has supposedly designated as “safe zones” — they face the risk of running into such unexploded ordnances; experts estimate that roughly 10 percent of bombs dropped don’t explode on impact and instead become death traps laying in wait. Unexploded ordnances have already been reported to have killed and injured several people in Gaza. The leveling of the UN agency’s headquarters comes as Israel has been escalating its attacks in Gaza.
Palestinian officials have reported that Israeli attacks have killed 320 Palestinians in the last 48 hours, including 17 Palestinians killed by an Israeli airstrike on a UNRWA school on Sunday.
Sharon Zhang is a news writer at Truthout covering politics, climate and labor
