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STORY: UN / GAZA UNRWA
TRT: 06:35
SOURCE: UNIFEED
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGES: ENGLISH / NATS
DATELINE: 28 JANUARY 2025, NEW YORK CITY / FILE
FILE - NEW YORK CITY
1. Wide shot, exterior United Nations Headquarters
28 JANUARY 2025, NEW YORK CITY
2. Wide shot, Security Council
3. Wide shot, Council dais
4. SOUNDBITE (English) Philippe Lazzarini, Commissioner-General of the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA):
“In two days, our operation in the Occupied Palestinian Territory would be crippled as legislation passed by the Israeli Knesset takes effect. At stake is the fate of millions of Palestinians, the ceasefire and the prospect for a political solution that brings lasting peace and security.”
5. Med shot, Lazzrini
6. SOUNDBITE (English) Philippe Lazzarini, Commissioner-General of the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA):
“Tens of thousands of people are now returning to the decimated north to search for the living and to bury the dead. Across the Gaza Strip, Palestinians are turning to UNRWA, the agency they have known all their lives for support. Curtailing our operation now, outside a political process, and when trust in the international community is so low, will undermine the ceasefire. It will sabotage Gaza's recovery and political transition.”
7. Med shot, Israeli Ambassador Danny Danon
8. SOUNDBITE (English) Philippe Lazzarini, Commissioner-General of the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA):
“The government of Israel claims that UNRWA plays a negligible role in providing humanitarian assistance in Gaza, in fact UNRWA constitute half the emergency response, with all other entities delivering the other half. Since October 2023, we have delivered two third of all food assistance, provided shelter to over a million displaced persons and vaccinated a quarter of million of children against polio.”
9. Various shots, Council
10. SOUNDBITE (English) Philippe Lazzarini, Commissioner-General of the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA):
“The relentless assault on UNRWA is harming the lives and future of Palestinians across the occupied Palestinian territory. It is eroding the trust in the international community, jeopardizing prospects for peace and security.”
11. SOUNDBITE (English) Philippe Lazzarini, Commissioner-General of the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA):
“The political attacks on the agency are motivated by the desire to strip Palestinians of the refugee statute, thereby unilaterally changing the long-established parameter for a political solution. The objective is to deny Palestinian refugees the right to self-determination and erase their history and identity.”
12. Wide shot, Council, Secretary-General of the Norwegian Refugee Council Jan Egeland on screen
13. SOUNDBITE (English) Jan Egeland, Secretary-General, Norwegian Refugee Council:
“UNRWA plays an indispensable humanitarian role in Gaza and in the West Bank, and it cannot be replaced by any other of us, the humanitarian organizations on the ground. We all rely on UNRWA's logistical capacity. We operate in UNRWA's schools. The people we support are attended to in UNRWA health clinics. And as Philippe Lazzarini just detailed, the organization has and still is responsible for a massive relief operation in the hour of greatest need for the Palestinian civilians in Gaza.”
14. Wide shot, Council
15. SOUNDBITE (English) Dorothy Shea, Deputy Permanent Representative to the United Nations, United States:
“We are concerned about reports that returned Israeli hostages were held by Hamas in UN facilities during their prolonged captivity in Gaza. It is vital for a full and independent investigation to assess these very serious allegations. Unfortunately, this follows a pattern of serious allegations on the misuse of UN facilities, particularly UNRWA facilities, by Hamas terrorists.”
16. Med shot, Lazzarini and Palestinian Ambassador Riyad Mansour
17. SOUNDBITE (English) Dorothy Shea, Deputy Permanent Representative to the United Nations, United States:
“It is Israel's sovereign decision to close UNRWA's offices in Jerusalem on January 30th. The United States supports the implementation of this decision. UNRWA exaggerating the effects of the laws and suggesting that they will force the entire humanitarian response to halt its irresponsible and dangerous.”
17. Wide shot, Mansour addressing Council
18. SOUNDBITE (English) Riyad Mansour, Permanent Observer to the United Nations, Palestine:
“Israel has been attacking UNRWA long before October seven, and at that time it did not try to conceal its objectives. It wanted to end the refugee problem, to erase rights that cannot be erased, that are inalienable.”
19. Med shot, Danon
20. SOUNDBITE (English) Riyad Mansour, Permanent Observer to the United Nations, Palestine:
“Israel that destroyed Gaza and openly aims at getting rid of the Palestinian people does not get to pick and choose who represents the Palestinian people or who represents the UN. It does not get to distort the law and the narrative. It does not get to claim some sort of exceptional status that allows it to commit crimes and enjoy impunity.”
21. Wide shot, Danon addressing Council
22. SOUNDBITE (English) Danny Danon, Permanent Representative to the United Nations, Israel:
“This decision was not made lightly, nor was it made quickly. It was not a political decision. It was simply a necessarily one. It follows decades of betrayal by the by an agency that has placed political agendas, neglect and coverups over humanitarian principles.”
23. Various shots, Council
24. SOUNDBITE (English) Danny Danon, Permanent Representative to the United Nations, Israel:
“Perhaps most shockingly, on October 7th, an only employee kidnaped Yonatan Samerano, an Israeli civilian. These terrorists returned home to a paycheck signed by you, Mr. Lazzarini. You signed his paycheck. He got paid until we took care of him. And all those countries who supported UNRWA, paid these terrorists for years. UNRWA has also misused its platform to indoctrinate hatred. Its curriculum as glorified violence, vilified Israel and poisoned generations of Palestinian children against any hope of coexistence.”
25. Wide shot, end of meeting
The Commissioner-General of the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) Philippe Lazzarini today (28 Jan) told the Security Council that if full implementation the Knesset legislation begins as expected on Thursday, operations in the occupied Palestinian territory “would be crippled,” and it will “sabotage Gaza's recovery and political transition.”
At stake, Lazzarini said, “is the fate of millions of Palestinians, the ceasefire and the prospect for a political solution that brings lasting peace and security.”
The UNRWA Commissioner-General said, “tens of thousands of people are now returning to the decimated north to search for the living and to bury the dead. Across the Gaza Strip, Palestinians are turning to UNRWA, the agency they have known all their lives for support.”
Contradicting claims by the government of Israel claims about UNRWA’s role in providing humanitarian assistance, he said, “in fact UNRWA constitute half the emergency response, with all other entities delivering the other half. Since October 2023, we have delivered two third of all food assistance, provided shelter to over a million displaced persons and vaccinated a quarter of million of children against polio.”
Lazzarini told the Council that “the relentless assault on UNRWA is harming the lives and future of Palestinians across the occupied Palestinian territory. It is eroding the trust in the international community, jeopardizing prospects for peace and security.”
He said, “the political attacks on the agency are motivated by the desire to strip Palestinians of the refugee statute, thereby unilaterally changing the long-established parameter for a political solution. The objective is to deny Palestinian refugees the right to self-determination and erase their history and identity.”
The Secretary-General of the Norwegian Refugee Council, Jan Egeland, who played a central role in the Oslo Accords process in the 1990s, said, “UNRWA plays an indispensable humanitarian role in Gaza and in the West Bank, and it cannot be replaced by any other of us, the humanitarian organizations on the ground. We all rely on UNRWA's logistical capacity. We operate in UNRWA's schools.”
Egeland said, “the people we support are attended to in UNRWA health clinics. And as Philippe Lazzarini just detailed, the organization has and still is responsible for a massive relief operation in the hour of greatest need for the Palestinian civilians in Gaza.”
United States Ambassador Dorothy Shea expressed concern over “reports that returned Israeli hostages were held by Hamas in UN facilities during their prolonged captivity in Gaza.”
Shea said it was “vital for a full and independent investigation to assess these very serious allegations,” and added that “unfortunately, this follows a pattern of serious allegations on the misuse of UN facilities, particularly UNRWA facilities, by Hamas terrorists.”
The US Ambassador said it was “Israel's sovereign decision to close UNRWA's offices in Jerusalem on January 30th,” and stressed that “the United States supports the implementation of this decision.”
She said, “UNRWA exaggerating the effects of the laws and suggesting that they will force the entire humanitarian response to halt its irresponsible and dangerous.”
Palestinian Ambassador Riyad Mansour said, “Israel has been attacking UNRWA long before October seven, and at that time it did not try to conceal its objectives. It wanted to end the refugee problem, to erase rights that cannot be erased, that are inalienable.”
He said, “Israel that destroyed Gaza and openly aims at getting rid of the Palestinian people does not get to pick and choose who represents the Palestinian people or who represents the UN. It does not get to distort the law and the narrative. It does not get to claim some sort of exceptional status that allows it to commit crimes and enjoy impunity.”
For his part, Israeli Ambassador Danny Danon said, “this decision was not made lightly, nor was it made quickly. It was not a political decision. It was simply a necessarily one. It follows decades of betrayal by the by an agency that has placed political agendas, neglect and coverups over humanitarian principles.”
“Perhaps most shockingly,” Danon said, “on October 7th, an only employee kidnaped Yonatan Samerano, an Israeli civilian.”
Addressing Lazzarini directly, he said, “these terrorists returned home to a paycheck signed by you.”
Danon said, “UNRWA has also misused its platform to indoctrinate hatred. Its curriculum as glorified violence, vilified Israel and poisoned generations of Palestinian children against any hope of coexistence.”
The Knesset legislation approved overwhelmingly by Israeli parliamentarians on 28 October last year, would prohibit the country’s authorities from having any contact with UNRWA and bar the agency from operating within Israel itself.
When the legislation is implemented, Israel will no longer issue the agency’s staff with work or entry permits, and coordination with the Israeli military, essential for the safe passage of aid, will no longer be possible.
UNRWA is the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East. The United Nations General Assembly established UNRWA in 1949 with a mandate to provide humanitarian assistance and protection to registered Palestine refugees in the Agency’s area of operations pending a just and lasting solution to their plight.
UNRWA operates in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, The Gaza Strip, Jordan, Lebanon and Syria.
Tens of thousands of Palestine refugees who lost their homes and livelihoods due to the 1948 conflict continue to be displaced and in need of support, nearly 75 years on.
