The Commissioner-General of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA), Philippe Lazzarini, said that Israel has not requested the evacuation of civilians from Rafah yet, in a statement denying claims by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that the process of evacuating the city's residents has already begun.

He added in a press briefing, today, Tuesday, broadcast live by Arab and international media: “There is great concern in Gaza about an Israeli (military) attack on Rafah, if an agreement is not reached this week.”

Contrary to what Netanyahu claimed earlier today, Lazzarini confirmed that “so far, people have not been asked to evacuate Rafah.”

Lazzarini touched on the humanitarian situation, saying that "food aid entering Gaza is still insufficient, despite its increase during this April," speaking of "difficulties facing aid convoys in the Gaza Strip," referring to strict Israeli obstacles and restrictions.

Regarding developments in the agency’s financial situation, he said: “We have new donors and countries that will contribute for the first time to supporting UNRWA, and we are waiting for the countries that suspended their support to take the decision to resume it.”

Lazzarini stressed that "most donor countries have resumed their funding for the agency, and there are still a small number of countries that have not yet decided to do so."

He continued: "We are able to withstand until next June, after announcing new contributions to UNRWA, and we look forward to continuing our operations until next August."

He pointed out that "great pressure is being exerted on UNRWA, and there are efforts to dismantle it, in addition to our employees and facilities being killed and destroyed in Gaza."

He touched on the results of an independent investigation led by French Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna, which concluded that Israel did not provide evidence to support its allegations that agency employees were involved in working for Hamas.

Recently, several countries have already decided to resume funding for UNRWA, most of them even before the publication of the Colonna report, most notably France, Canada, Australia, Sweden, Norway, Spain and Japan.

This comes as the Israeli army continues its devastating war on Gaza since last October 7, which has left tens of thousands dead and wounded, most of them children and women, according to Palestinian sources, which necessitated Tel Aviv’s trial before the International Court of Justice on the grounds of committing “genocide.”