UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees suspends operations in Rafah

The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) has announced the suspension of its operations in Rafah as Israeli forces have continued their ground operations in the city at the southern tip of the Gaza Strip since early May.

Philip Lazarini, head of the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees in the Near East, told X last night: “The office has been forced to suspend the provision of health and other essential services in Rafah.”

The agency is currently operating mainly in Khan Yunis, a few kilometers north of Rafah, and in the central part of the enclave. “We have resumed our operations in Khan Yunis, although all our facilities have been damaged,” Lazarini clarified.

A UNRWA spokesman confirmed to the German Press Agency that all of the agency’s employees had left Rafah and were now working in Khan Yunis.

The Israeli army continued its ground operations in Rafah yesterday, ignoring fierce international reactions. The Israeli political and military leadership sees the city, located on the closed border with Egypt, as a refuge for the “last” battalions of the military wing of the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas, which had vowed to destroy the city after launching an unprecedented attack on southern Israel on October 7 that sparked the war.

According to the Swiss UNRWA chief, 1.7 million Palestinians have now found refuge in Khan Yunis and Gaza.

Lazarini clarified that all 36 of the aid agency’s shelters in Rafah are now empty. He stressed that thousands of forcibly displaced people are forced to live in the ruins of Khan Yunis, where bombings and fighting have been taking place for months, and in the destroyed UNRWA facilities in the Jabalia refugee camp.