The Commissioner-General of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA), Philippe Lazzarini, called on Israel to stop its “campaign” against the agency in an article published by the New York Times on Friday.

He wrote in the article, titled “Israel must stop its campaign against UNRWA,” that “the war in Gaza causes blatant disdain for the mission of the United Nations, including blatant attacks against employees, facilities, and operations” carried out by the agency.

He added, "These attacks must stop and the world must take action to hold their perpetrators accountable."

Lazzarini continued, “As I write these lines, our agency has verified that at least 192 of its staff have been killed in Gaza. More than 170 UNRWA installations have been damaged or destroyed. UNRWA-run schools have been demolished. 450 displaced people have been killed while seeking refuge in Schools or other UNRWA institutions.

It is noteworthy that the UN agency that coordinates most of the aid in Gaza suffered a crisis after Israel alleged in January that 12 of its 13,000 employees in Gaza were involved in the “Al-Aqsa Flood” operation on October 7.

These allegations led several countries to suddenly suspend funding for the agency, including the United States, the main donor, threatening its work in Gaza, although several countries later resumed funding.

An independent review of UNRWA's work, supervised by former French Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna, highlighted some "problems related to the neutrality" of the agency, but stressed that Israel had not yet provided evidence for its claims.

The agency was established in 1949 and employs about 30,000 people in the Palestinian territories, Jordan, Lebanon and Syria.

Since October 7, “UNRWA employees have been subjected to regular harassment and insults at Israeli checkpoints in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem,” Lazzarini confirmed, expressing his regret that the agency’s facilities in the Gaza Strip “are used by Israeli forces, Hamas, and factions.” other Palestinians for military purposes.”

On May 14, the Israeli Foreign Minister accused UNRWA of being “an arm of Hamas,” and this week some Israeli representatives introduced a bill aimed at depriving UNRWA of its diplomatic privileges.

Philippe Lazzarini added in his article, “Israeli officials not only threaten the work of our employees... but are also working to delegitimize UNRWA by portraying it as a terrorist organization that promotes extremism and describing UN leaders as terrorists in collusion with Hamas.”

The Commissioner-General of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees called on the international community to "act resolutely against the illegal attacks on the United Nations."