US-supported Gaza aid model ‘waste of resources, distraction from atrocities’: UNRWA Head
Gaza is a waste of new US-supported support distribution model resources and is a distraction from “atrocities”, the United Nations Agency’s chief Palestinian refugees Philip Lazerini said on Wednesday.“I believe it is a waste of resources and distraction from atrocities. We already have a support distribution system that is fit for purpose,” Lazerini said in Japan.“The human community in Gaza, including UNRWA, is ready. We have experience and expertise to reach people,” he said.He said, “Meanwhile, the clock is turning towards famine, so human (work) should now be allowed to do their life saving work.”The new US-supported Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) on Tuesday started operations at a support distribution center at South Gaza.AFP journalists said that thousands of Palestinians participated in the center, AFP journalists said.The phenomenon came out a few days after the total assistance blockade was partially reduced on the area, which was on 2 March by Israel, causing severe lack of food and medicine.“We have seen the stunning images of hungry people to be pushed against the fence yesterday, desperate to eat.Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu later admitted “loss of control” at the Center, but a senior military official said the distribution was still “a success”.The United States announced a new model in early May, bypassing the United Nations.Israel has facilitated GHF’s efforts to distribute assistance in Gaza, saying that its purpose is to keep the supply out of Hamas’s hands.But the GHF has faced allegations of helping Israel to fulfill its military objectives, except Palestinians, bypassing the United Nations System and failing to follow human principles.“The model of the aid distribution proposed by Israel does not align with the main human principle. It will deprive a large portion of Gaza, extremely weak people, for strict assistance,” Lezerini said on Wednesday.
