UNRWA chief slams US-Israeli aid distribution system in Gaza as ‘war crime’
Palestinian children mourn civilians who were killed by Israeli shelling when they attempted to receive food aid on 18 June 2025
Mera Aladam reports in Middle East Eye on 18 June 2025:
The commissioner-general of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA), Philippe Lazzarini, has condemned the “lethal” US-Israeli relief delivery mechanism in Gaza, as over two million are left starving across the besieged enclave.
In a post on X, Lazzarini indicated that Palestinian lives “have been so devalued”, as hundreds have been killed at aid distribution checkpoints. “It is now the routine to shoot & kill desperate & starving people while they try to collect little food from a company made of mercenaries,” he said.
The UN and aid organisations have accused the US and Israel-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), which employs private American security and logistics workers, of militarising humanitarian aid.
“A lame, medievale [sic] and lethal system that is deliberately harming people under the camouflage of ‘humanitarian aid’ with Lies, Deceit, Cruelty,” the UNRWA chief further expressed. “Inviting starving people to their death is a war crime. Those responsible of this system must be held accountable. This is a disgrace & a stain on our collective consciousness.”
Lazzarini urged that humanitarian principles “must be reinstated”, adding that experts must be allowed into the Gaza Strip to provide assistance.The Israeli government has been accused by rights groups of using starvation as a weapon of war, as Palestinians – including children – have been dying from starvation-related complications.
Aid distribution sites have however become a greater danger than famine according to the people in Gaza. At least 47 Palestinians were killed since the early hours of Wednesday, including 14 aid workers, Al Jazeera reported.
Since GHF launched its operations three weeks ago, MEE’s Gaza-based correspondent has reported that at least 420 Palestinians have been killed and more than 3,000 others wounded by Israeli fire near three aid distribution sites in central and southern Gaza. “You go there to get food, but you never know if you’ll make it back,” one Palestinian in Gaza told MEE this week, describing the GHF hubs as “an execution site”.
The Palestinian health ministry in Gaza noted that in just the past 24 hours, over 140 people were killed – many of them at the aid site – bringing the death toll to more than 55,630 since 7 October 2023.
Shortage of essentials and fuel
As the death toll of aid-seekers rise, the humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip has only deepened.
The UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres condemned Israel’s ongoing “unacceptable” killing of relief-seekers in the Gaza Strip, warning that the needs of Palestinians in the besieged enclave “remains unmet”.
UN spokesperson Farhan Haq said at a news conference on Tuesday that the UN chief “continues to call for an immediate and independent investigation into all such reports and for accountability to be established”. Haq stressed that Israel has “clear obligations under international humanitarian law” to facilitate adequate humanitarian relief.
According to UNRWA, the health sector in the blockaded Strip is in a “critical situation”, with 45 percent of essential supplies out of stock.