WASHINGTON, Oct 10 (Bernama-Anadolu) -- The Gaza Strip has been described as "unrecognisable" with no end in sight to the violence engulfing the Middle East, the head of the United Nations Agency for Palestinian Refugees (UNRWA) said Wednesday, Anadolu Agency reported.
"One year after the abhorrent attacks against Israel, and the catastrophic war on Gaza, no end is in sight to the brutal violence engulfing the region.
“It has been a year of profound loss and suffering," Philippe Lazzarini said at a Security Council meeting on the situation in the Palestinian enclave.
Gaza has become a sea of rubble and a graveyard for tens of thousands of people, including far too many children, he said, noting that almost the entire population is displaced.
Turning to the situation in the occupied West Bank, Lazzarini warned of escalating violence, where nearly 700 people have been killed in the past year, more than 160 of them children.
"Civilian life is increasingly militarised, and settlement activity is expanding aggressively," he said.
Lazzarini also said that Lebanon is the latest casualty of the widening conflict.
"Civilians are paying a heavy price. Airstrikes by Israeli forces are killing and displacing hundreds of thousands," he said.
He highlighted the importance of UNRWA in Gaza, cautioning that the agency's operational space is shrinking amid Israeli attacks.
The commissioner noted that senior Israeli officials have described destroying UNRWA as their "war goal," and Israel wants to ban the agency's presence and operation.
"Failing to push back against attempts to intimidate and undermine the UN in the occupied Palestinian territory will eventually compromise humanitarian and human rights efforts worldwide," he said, urging the Security Council to decide how much it will tolerate actions that compromise international peace and security.
"The climate of impunity that prevails will not dissipate without decisive action," he added.
-- BERNAMA-ANADOLU
