World Reacts to ICC Arrest Warrants, IDF Kills Hamas, PIJ Commanders

A humanitarian disaster in Gaza is being deepened by a total breakdown of law and order, and the conflict between Israel and Hamas is making the enclave uninhabitable, a senior official of the main UN aid agency there, UNRWA, said on Friday.

UNRWA official Natalie Boucly also said the arrest warrants issued against senior Israeli politicians as well as a Hamas leader by an international tribunal meant there would be a reckoning for the suffering caused to millions of people.

“Virtually the entire population of Gaza is in desperate need of assistance amid a looming famine,” said Boucly, UNRWA’s deputy commissioner-general for programs and partnerships.

Ban UNRWA

Israel’s parliament passed a law last month that will ban UNRWA from operating in the country when it comes into effect at the end of January. UNRWA Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini said its implementation “will have catastrophic consequences”.

UNRWA has faced a litany of controversies since Hamas invaded southern Israel and killed around 1,200 people. In particular, some UNRWA staff were accused of participating in the attacks, in which more than 250 people were abducted. An UNRWA social worker kidnapped Yonatan Samerano during the attacks, and his mother has since campaigned for the head of UNRWA for his release.

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