Philippe Lazzarini, head of the UN agency for “Palestinian refugees”, UNRWA, on Monday accused Israel of blocking him from entering the Gaza Strip, AFP reported.
Lazzarini said during a joint press conference in Cairo with Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry that he had "intended to go into Rafah today, but was informed my entry had been declined."
Later, Lazzarini wrote in a lengthy post on social media that he had been denied entry to Gaza by "Israeli authorities".
The unit for Coordination of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT) responded to Lazzarini’s post and wrote, “The UNRWA commissioner’s request to coordinate his entry into the Gaza Strip was not submitted by the necessary coordination processes and channels. This was promptly communicated to the relevant UN bodies.”
“This is another attempt by UNRWA to blame Israel for their own mistakes,” added COGAT.
Israel in January said that 12 UNRWA staff had taken part in Hamas’ October 7 attack. Among other things, Israel said those workers kidnapped a woman, handed out ammunition and actively taking part in the massacre at Kibbutz Be’eri, where 97 people were murdered.
In the wake of Israel’s announcement, the US and a host of other countries announced they would temporarily pause funding to UNRWA.
While Lazzarini announced that the UN agency had launched an investigation into the employees in question, he has also insisted he had no knowledge of how deep Hamas is involved in UNRWA, and has repeatedly accused Israel of "a deliberate and concerted campaign" aimed at ending UNRWA’s work.