The head of the beleaguered UN agency for Palestinian refugees said he would stay in post as long as possible, defying Israeli demands for his resignation following allegations that a dozen of his Gazan staff took part in Hamas’s devastating October 7 attack on Israel.
The allegations — still unproven — have caused the US and 14 other donors to suspend about $440mn of funding to the agency, UNRWA, and brought intense scrutiny on to its work at a time when it is providing vital aid to nearly 2mn Palestinians in the besieged Gaza strip.
Philippe Lazzarini told the Financial Times he would continue as UNRWA’s commissioner general as long as he believed he was continuing to “support the people” and “conveying the voice for the Palestinian refugees”.