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Philippe Lazzarini

UNRWA outgoing Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini speaks during his end of mandate press briefing at the United Nations offices in Geneva on March 31, 2026. (Fabrice COFFRINI / AFP)
March 31, 2026, 8:39 pm
On last day in office, UNRWA head urges probe into alleged IDF killing of nearly 400 workers
Lazzarini blasts what he calls ‘extraordinary level of impunity’ for Israeli actions in Gaza; he leaves behind an agency facing ‘collapse’ amid accusations it has extensive terror ties
By AFP and ToI Staff
Philippe Lazzarini, Commissioner-General of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) for Palestine Refugees in the Near East, speaks during a UN Security Council meeting at UN headquarters in New York City on January 28, 2025. (Yuki IWAMURA / AFP)
March 21, 2026, 9:47 am
Outgoing UNRWA head warns agency ‘may soon no longer be viable’ amid Israeli opposition
Warning from Philippe Lazzarini comes as the UN Palestinian refugee agency, which Israel accuses of colluding with Hamas, faces dire financial straits after US froze funding
By Reuters and ToI Staff
Illustrative: Students snack during recess in the yard of the UNRWA Boys' School run by the UN agency for Palestinian refugees in the Shuafat Refugee Camp in East Jerusalem, April 29, 2025. (AP Photo/Maya Alleruzzo)
January 23, 2026, 4:18 pm
UNRWA school in West Bank city set to be closed by Israel within days, agency says
Qalandiya Training Center sits on land at risk of expropriation, UN Palestinian refugee body says; Israel demolished organization’s East Jerusalem compound earlier this week
By Reuters and ToI Staff
Women wait to be served at a health clinic run by the United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees, known as UNRWA, in the Old City of Jerusalem, Tuesday, January 28, 2025. (AP/Mahmoud Illean)
January 15, 2026, 5:08 pm
Israel shutters UNRWA health clinic in Jerusalem’s Old City for 30 days
Closure comes after laws banned UN agency from Israeli territory, cut off access to electricity and water; spigots, power to soon be shut off in other UNRWA Jerusalem buildings
By ToI Staff
A boy sits outside the entrance to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) building complex in Gaza City on September 6, 2025. (Omar AL-QATTAA / AFP)
January 11, 2026, 1:30 pm
‘Dire’ financial crisis forces UNRWA to drop hundreds of ex-Gazan staff from payroll
UN aid agency for Palestinian refugees says it laid off 571 workers who left the enclave at the start of the war and had been on its payroll until March of last year
By AFP and ToI Staff
UN vehicles escort a destroyed truck reportedly used by UNRWA workers that was fired upon by Israeli forces, as it is carried by a trailer vehicle along Gaza's main Salah al-Din road outside Deir al-Balah in central Gaza on October 23, 2024. (Eyad Baba/AFP)
December 13, 2025, 5:36 am
UN backs ICJ declaration that UNRWA isn’t infiltrated by Hamas; Israel denounces vote
Head of Palestinian welfare agency hails ‘strong endorsement’ from General Assembly; US slams ‘unserious and biased’ resolution, condemns UNWRA as ‘a Hamas subsidiary complicit in Oct. 7’
By ToI Staff
Israeli police and officials hang an Israeli flag on the UNRWA compound in East Jerusalem, December 8, 2025. (AP Photo/Mahmoud Illean)
December 8, 2025, 5:44 pm
Authorities raid UNRWA offices in East Jerusalem, raise Israeli flag over compound
Officials working with police say they seized assets over debts related to unpaid municipal taxes, but refugee agency says it’s exempt from local levies under UN convention ratified by Israel
By Charlie Summers, AFP and ToI Staff
Palestinians examine the remains of bulldozers hit by an Israeli army airstrike in Jabaliya, northern Gaza Strip, on Tuesday, April 22, 2025. (AP Photo/Jehad Alshrafi)
April 22, 2025, 11:41 pm
IDF destroys dozens of Gaza construction vehicles it says used for terror activities
Military notes some of the equipment it targeted was used by Hamas in Oct. 7 assault; Gazan officials report 26 killed in other strikes across Strip
By Emanuel Fabian, Lazar Berman and Agencies
Members of the Palestine Red Crescent and other emergency services carry bodies of fellow rescuers killed a week earlier by Israeli forces, during a funeral procession at the Nasser Medical Complex in the southern Gaza Strip's Khan Younis, March 31, 2025. (Eyad Baba / AFP)
April 1, 2025, 4:59 am
UN says 15 Gaza medics killed by IDF found in mass grave; IDF: We targeted terrorists
Army says troops opened fire after uncoordinated vehicles advanced suspiciously toward them without headlights or emergency signals, adds that it helped coordinate evacuation of bodies
By Agencies and Emanuel Fabian
Children gather outside the gate of the Kalandia Training Centre, run by the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees, which was raided by Israeli forces earlier in the day on February 18, 2025. (Zain Jaafar / AFP)
February 18, 2025, 6:49 pm
Israel raids UNRWA job center, shuts schools in East Jerusalem after agency banned
UN refugee body says police, Jerusalem officials storm Qalandiya vocational training facility with tear gas and sound grenades; two schools said to defy order to shutter
By ToI Staff and Agencies
Participants attend the International Alliance to Implement the Two-State Solution meeting in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, on October 30, 2024. (Fayez Nureldine/AFP)
January 13, 2025, 8:04 pm
Norway to host 3rd meeting of ‘international alliance’ pushing for Palestinian state
‘There is broad support for a two-state solution, but the international community must do more,’ Norwegian FM says ahead of summit; new PA prime minister, UNRWA chief set to attend
By Agencies and ToI Staff
An Israeli truck transporting aid destined for the Gaza Strip arriving at a drop-off area near the Kerem Shalom crossing, on November 28, 2024. (JACK GUEZ / AFP)
December 1, 2024, 4:27 pm
UNRWA pauses aid deliveries via key Israeli crossing due to looting inside Gaza
Head of UN agency says route via Kerem Shalom no longer safe, largely blames Israel; Jerusalem downplays announcement, says only 7% of aid via crossing is coordinated with UNRWA
By Agencies and ToI Staff
Philippe Lazzarini, Commissioner General of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), speaks during a press conference at the European headquarters of the United Nations in Geneva, Switzerland, September 30, 2024. (Salvatore Di Nolfi/Keystone via AP)
October 30, 2024, 6:23 pm
UNRWA chief says new Israeli laws targeting UN agency mean ‘more people will die in Gaza’
Philippe Lazzarini says shuttering UNRWA operations in Israel within three months ‘would be a total disaster,’ in first comments since Knesset passed laws severing ties with agency
By Agencies and ToI Staff
Palestinians line up to buy bread at a bakery run by the UN World Food Programme and UNRWA in in Khan Younis, in the southern Gaza Strip, on September 8, 2024. (Abed Rahim Khatib/Flash90)
October 16, 2024, 4:35 pm
UNRWA ‘very near’ possible breaking point in Gaza, head says
Lazzarini again warns famine, acute malnutrition could become a likelihood as winter approaches, given that people’s immune systems are already weak from harsh conditions in Strip
By Reuters and ToI Staff
Philippe Lazzarini, commissioner-general of UNRWA, speaks during an interview with AFP in New York on September 24, 2024. (ANGELA WEISS / AFP)
October 1, 2024, 12:46 am
UNRWA chief says he did not know a suspended teacher was Hamas’s leader in Lebanon
‘What’s obvious for you today, was not obvious yesterday,’ says Lazzarini after Fateh Sherif Abu el-Amin killed in IAF raid; says Israel harming UNRWA’s reputation
By Reuters and ToI Staff
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