‘Reprehensible’: UN criticizes Israeli spokesperson’s comments about UNRWA chief | United Nations News

An Israeli government official who calls Phillipe Lazzarini a “terrorist sympathizer” also puts his safety at risk, the UN says.

The United Nations has denounced an Israeli government spokesman for calling the head of its Palestinian refugee agency (UNRWA) a “terrorist sympathizer”.

Stephane Dujarric, spokesman for UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, said the comments by Israel’s David Mencer were “absolutely dangerous.”

Mencer took aim at UNRWA chief Phillipe Lazzarini in a videotaped speech on Wednesday, saying his agency was deeply infiltrated by Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad.

“Now, if the UN was doing what it was designed to do, then Philippe Lazzarini should be one of the good guys, but he’s not,” Mencer said.

“He [Lazzarini] He’s one of the bandits. A terrorist sympathizer. A facilitator of the killing of Jews. A liar.”

The UN’s Dujarric called the rhetoric “reprehensible,” warning that it puts Lazzarini’s safety at risk.

“To use the kind of inflammatory language that he used to describe Mr Lazzarini… in an environment that is already extremely volatile – is reprehensible and downright dangerous,” Dujarric told Al Jazeera.

“This puts at risk a senior UN official whose sole focus is helping civilians in Gaza. To ease your suffering,” he said.

UNRWA under attack

Israel has campaigned for years against UNRWA, the main organization providing humanitarian aid to Palestinians in the Gaza Strip and caring for Palestinian refugees in other countries, claiming links to “terrorists” and lobbying for its closure.

Earlier this year, Israel accused the agency of employing personnel who participated in the Hamas-led October 7 attacks against Israel, forcing more than a dozen international donors to suspend support.

An independent review authorized by the UN concluded that Israel did not provide credible evidence for its accusations and most donors have since reinstated funding.

There is a separate investigation into the October attack, carried out by the UN Office of Internal Oversight Services.

Israeli attacks in Gaza frequently target UNRWA facilities, killing 197 of its staff and hitting 70 percent of its schools, according to the organization.

“All the rules of war have been broken in Gaza,” with at least eight schools housing displaced Palestinians attacked by Israel in the last 10 days, Lazzarini said.

At least 25 people were killed in an attack on the last school to be hit, the al-Razi school, in the central Nuseirat refugee camp, according to Palestinian authorities.

UN chief Guterres warned that there is “no alternative to UNRWA” in Gaza, calling it a “critical lifeline” for Palestinian refugees.

Gaza’s Health Ministry said at least 38,794 people have been killed and 89,364 injured in Israel’s war in the enclave. The death toll in Israel from Hamas-led attacks in October is estimated at 1,139, with dozens of people still held captive in Gaza.