UNRWA: Largest Displacement of Palestinians Since 1948

Philippe Lazzarini, Commissioner-General of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), talks to the media during a press conference at the European headquarters of the United Nations in Geneva, Switzerland, Thursday, Nov. 16, 2023, on humanitarian crisis unfolding in Gaza and UNRWA's response. (Salvatore Di Nolfi/Keystone via AP)
Philippe Lazzarini, Commissioner-General of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), talks to the media during a press conference at the European headquarters of the United Nations in Geneva, Switzerland, Thursday, Nov. 16, 2023, on humanitarian crisis unfolding in Gaza and UNRWA's response. (Salvatore Di Nolfi/Keystone via AP)
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UNRWA: Largest Displacement of Palestinians Since 1948

Philippe Lazzarini, Commissioner-General of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), talks to the media during a press conference at the European headquarters of the United Nations in Geneva, Switzerland, Thursday, Nov. 16, 2023, on humanitarian crisis unfolding in Gaza and UNRWA's response. (Salvatore Di Nolfi/Keystone via AP)
Philippe Lazzarini, Commissioner-General of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), talks to the media during a press conference at the European headquarters of the United Nations in Geneva, Switzerland, Thursday, Nov. 16, 2023, on humanitarian crisis unfolding in Gaza and UNRWA's response. (Salvatore Di Nolfi/Keystone via AP)

Philippe Lazzarini, the Commissioner-General of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA), has said that the world has “just witnessed the largest displacement of Palestinians since 1948.”

Fighting between Israeli troops and Hamas in northern Gaza caused another 200,000 people to flee south in the past 10 days, the UN said Tuesday.

More than two-thirds of Gaza’s population of 2.3 million have fled their homes since the war began.

“It is an exodus under our watch. A river of people being forced to flee their homes,” Lazzarini told a press conference in Geneva.

“Some were forced to relive the unlivable: traumas from the past, mostly unhealed.

Others, the younger generation, were forced to live through traumas of ancestors or parents,” he added.

Lazzarini also said the agency’s fuel storage facility in Gaza is empty and its relief operations will soon be halted.

He said that after weeks of warnings and rationing, the agency will soon be out of fuel.

“The depot is now empty,” he said. “It is very simple. Without fuel, the humanitarian operation in Gaza is coming to an end. Many more people will suffer and will likely die.”

Israel has refused to allow fuel shipments into Gaza since Hamas’ cross-border attack on Oct. 7. Israel says Hamas will divert any fuel shipments for military use.

UNRWA provides food, shelter and other services to hundreds of thousands of displaced Palestinians.



Israeli Military Inquiry Says It ‘Failed to Protect’ Civilians on October 7

An aerial view shows members of the media during a visit to Kibbutz Kfar Aza, in the aftermath of a deadly attack by Hamas gunmen from the Gaza Strip, in southern Israel, October 15, 2023. (Reuters)
An aerial view shows members of the media during a visit to Kibbutz Kfar Aza, in the aftermath of a deadly attack by Hamas gunmen from the Gaza Strip, in southern Israel, October 15, 2023. (Reuters)
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Israeli Military Inquiry Says It ‘Failed to Protect’ Civilians on October 7

An aerial view shows members of the media during a visit to Kibbutz Kfar Aza, in the aftermath of a deadly attack by Hamas gunmen from the Gaza Strip, in southern Israel, October 15, 2023. (Reuters)
An aerial view shows members of the media during a visit to Kibbutz Kfar Aza, in the aftermath of a deadly attack by Hamas gunmen from the Gaza Strip, in southern Israel, October 15, 2023. (Reuters)

The Israeli military drastically underestimated the capabilities of Hamas before its attacks on Israel on October 7, 2023, and "failed in its mission to protect Israeli civilians", a summary of an Israeli military investigation published on Thursday said.

The perception that Hamas was not interested in a full-scale conflict and that Israel would have ample warning if that changed went unchallenged for years, the summary said, resulting in a lack of preparedness and ability to respond to an attack.

"The belief was that Hamas could be influenced through pressures that would reduce its motivation for war, primarily by improving living conditions in the Gaza Strip," the report said.

The investigation looked at Israeli military strategy, battle behavior and intelligence before, during and after October 7, 2023, when Hamas fighters stormed southern Israel, killing 1,200 people and taking more than 250 hostages, according to Israeli tallies.

More than 48,000 people have been killed in Israel's assault on Gaza since then, according to Palestinian health officials. Much of the enclave has been laid waste and most of the territory's 2.3 million prewar population have been displaced multiple times, humanitarian agencies say. Around 400 Israeli soldiers have also been killed.

The military investigation was conducted as calls grow from within the Israeli opposition and civil society for a national inquiry into the government's failures on the deadliest single day in modern Israeli history.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said a national inquiry would only be appropriate after the conclusion of the war.

The first phase of a ceasefire that began on January 19 is due to expire in two days' time.

The military investigation found Israel had focused its intelligence and military efforts on other fronts, such as Hezbollah in Lebanon, and relied too heavily "on intelligence, barriers, and defensive measures alone", and was thus caught by surprise.

Military commanders did not perceive an urgent threat leading up to October 7 attacks and did not reinforce the troops defending the border.

A statement from the Israeli Prime Minister's Office on Thursday said that the military had not given the prime minister the findings of its investigations into the war.