Philippe Lazzarini, commissioner-general of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), has criticized the international community’s inaction regarding the ongoing humanitarian crisis in Gaza, stressing the urgent need for a January ceasefire to be reinstated.

In a post on his official X account on Tuesday, Lazzarini wrote, “How much longer until hollow words of condemnation translate into action to lift the siege, resume a ceasefire, and save whatever is left of humanity?”

His remarks come 50 days into the total siege of the Gaza Strip by the Israeli regime. “Hunger is spreading and deepening, deliberate and manmade.”

Describing Gaza as a “land of desperation,” he pointed out that two million people, most of them women and children, are undergoing “collective punishment.”

The UN official said Israel was using humanitarian aid as “a bargaining chip and a weapon of war,” and noted that “the wounded, sick, and elderly are being deprived of medical supplies and care.”

Lazzarini reiterated that the siege must end and the ceasefire must resume.

Israel resumed its genocidal war on Gaza on March 18, despite a fragile ceasefire that had been in place since January 19. Thousands of Palestinians have since been killed.

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