Once a major weapons cache, nestled within a tunnel in the heart of Gaza, was discovered, one could have predicted the response of Philipe Lazzarini, UNRWA commissioner general, when he said “we didn’t know about the tunnel”. He actually expected people to believe it when he said “we knew of its existence only from the media”. There is little doubt he’s attempting to absolve himself and his organization from any culpability in the matter.
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Really, Phillipe? You had no idea? Well, let’s examine the facts in order to ascertain just how reliable your statement is. The tunnel in question was dug precisely under the UNRWA headquarters in the prestigious Rimal neighborhood, a stone's throw away from the beach. We're talking about a tunnel that is 60 feet deep and 2,300 feet long. Even if you take the world's most accomplished builder and excavator, there is little chance you’d be able to dig such a tunnel in the four months that have passed since the onset of the war.
In fact, according to some estimates, excavations under the UNRWA headquarters began nearly a decade ago. Are we truly expected to believe that no UNRWA official heard the sounds emanating from the incredible amount of work that would have been required in order to dig such a tunnel? Unless, of course, Mr. Lazzarini is trying to sell us the notion that the tunnel just magically popped up out of nowhere, just as the UNRWA headquarters was evacuated by IDF forces.
Making Lazzarini’s puzzling denial even more suspect, is the fact that the electricity that was used to light the tunnel, was transferred through cables that originated from the UNRWA building. From that, one might easily surmise the building had a dual purpose: it was both the UNRWA center of operations, as well as the Hamas center of operations.
We should also keep in mind Israel actually did invite Lazzarini to join a special tour in Gaza, except he chose to ignore it. Adding insult to injury, It was just four days prior to uncovering that tunnel that he went to Jerusalem and put together a press conference, in which he spoke of the undeniable distress experienced by Palestinian civilians within Gaza.
I myself wanted to hear what Lazzarini had to say about the war, which is why I requested an interview last week before the tunnel was uncovered. Relying on a preestablished relationship I had with the UNRWA spokesperson, I approached her and she politely asked what exactly it is that I would like to bring up with the Commissioner General. I explained that I wanted to hear what he thinks about the war and how he responds to the allegations against a dozen UNRWA employees who participated in the October 7 massacre. Nine of them have already been relieved of duty, two were murdered during the attack and one is missing.
Predictably, Lazzarini chose to ignore my overtures, probably because I’m from an Israeli newspaper. I can only assume he would’ve been unable to reply to at least some of the questions I had prepared ahead of time, and whatever response he would’ve given, would’ve been highly unlikely to persuade Israeli readers or indeed, his own bosses in the UN headquarters. His obfuscations eventually brought about a situation where 20 leading nations, among which are the United States, Germany, France, UK and Japan, all decided to suspend the allocation of funds to UNRWA. Lazzarini went on a "journey" to recoup the funds, touring through Gulf states. He later announced that “we have a budget running only until the end of this month”.
Israel is currently pursuing effort to replace UNRWA. Finding any organization that would be willing to put itself in the Gaza quicksand, is a challenging endeavor, to say the least. Additionally, even if a different organization were to take on these responsibilities, it is anybody’s guess if they would be able to substantially improve the dire straits in which 2 million Palestinians find themselves. UNRWA has plenty of faults, but at least they presented some sort of a solution to what is sure to be an exceedingly complicated problem.
First of all, someone needs to come up with a solution to a very pressing issue - A million Palestinians were forced to flee to Rafah, and it is unclear where they would be able to live on a long-term basis, once the war is over. This, in turn, raises another issue - who would assume responsibility for reconstructing a huge number of apartments in north and central Gaza? Egypt has made it abundantly clear it's unwilling to accept any Palestinian refugees anywhere within the Sinai Peninsula. UNRWA is neither capable of operating nor recruiting construction workers.
One thing is for sure, though. Whether UNRWA remains in place or Israel finds a suitable substitute, either way, Lazzarini must go. He has proven himself utterly incapable of carrying out the responsibility he was entrusted with.