GENEVA: Head of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees on Wednesday warned that the West Bank is becoming a battlefield with dozens killed there since January.
“More than 50 people, including children, have been reported killed since the Israeli forces’ operation started five weeks ago,” Philippe Lazzarini said on X.
He added that the West Bank is facing a spillover of the Gaza war. He further said the destruction of public infrastructure, bulldozing roads, and access restrictions are commonplace.
“People’s lives have been turned upside down, bringing back traumas & loss,” he noted.
Lazzarini added around 40,000 people have been forced to flee their homes, especially in refugee camps in the north. “Fear, uncertainty & grief once again prevail,” he said.
He stated more than 5,000 children who normally go to UNRWA schools have been deprived of education, some for over 10 weeks now. He added patients cannot access healthcare, families are cut off from water, electricity and other basic services.
In a statement on X he said more and more people are relying on humanitarian aid at a time when aid agencies are overstretched and severely under-resourced.
It is pertinent to mention that the UNRWA teams are tracking displaced people and continue to provide them with much-needed food, health care, and basic necessities to keep them warm.
The West Bank is undergoing an alarming spill over of the #Gaza war.
More than 50 people, including children, have been reported killed since the Israeli Forces’ operation started 5 weeks ago.
Destruction of public infrastructure, bulldozing roads and access restrictions are…
— Philippe Lazzarini (@UNLazzarini) February 26, 2025
“The West Bank is becoming a battlefield: ordinary Palestinians are the first & most to suffer,” Lazzarini.
UNRWA runs the largest network delivering humanitarian assistance to hundreds of thousands in the Gaza Strip, the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem and to Palestinian refugee populations across the Middle East.
It also works with a host of other agencies and manages schools-turned-shelters housing displaced civilians in Gaza who were repeatedly targeted by the Israeli military.
The truce pausing Israel’s war on Gaza which has killed 48,348 Palestinians entered its 39th day.
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