CAIRO, March  18, 2024 (BSS/AFP) - The head of the UN agency for
Palestinian refugees said Monday Israel had blocked him from entering the
war-torn and besieged Gaza Strip where the UN has warned of impending famine.

UNRWA chief Philippe Lazzarini said he had "intended to go into Rafah
today, but was informed my entry had been declined," speaking in a Cairo joint
press conference with Egypt's Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry.

Lazzarini later wrote on X, formerly Twitter, that he had been denied entry
by "Israeli authorities", a claim Israel did not immediately comment on.

The UN agency, which coordinates nearly all aid to Gaza, has been in crisis
since Israel accused about a dozen of its 13,000 Gaza employees of being
involved in the October 7 Hamas attack on Israel.

This led multiple donor nations including the United States to suspend
funding although some of them have since resumed or increased it including
Spain, Canada and Australia.

Israeli authorities did not respond to an AFP request for comment, but
government spokesman Avi Hyman earlier Monday reiterated what he called
Israel's position, that "UNRWA is a front for Hamas".

Shoukry expressed Cairo's "complete support" for the agency and criticised
"unilateral actions to restrict UNRWA funding due to baseless accusations".
The Hamas attack of October 7 resulted in about 1,160 deaths, most of them
civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official Israeli figures.

Israel's retaliatory campaign in Hamas-controlled Gaza has killed at least
31,726 people, mostly women and children, according to the territory's health
ministry.

- 'Man-made starvation' -

Among the dead are 168 UNRWA employees, according to the agency's latest
figures.

Lazzarini on Monday said the UN has paid a "massive price in Gaza".
"More than 150 of our facilities have been completely destroyed in the Gaza
Strip," he said.

"And a number of our staff were arrested and endured ill-treatment and
humiliation during investigation."

In more than five months of war and siege, the humanitarian situation in
Gaza has deteriorated to what the UN has repeatedly warned is an imminent
famine.

"This is man-made starvation," Lazzarini said.

The Gaza health ministry has in recent weeks recorded at least 27 deaths
from malnutrition and dehydration, most of them children.

The UN said Monday that half of the territory's 2.4 million people are
experiencing "catastrophic hunger and starvation".

Humanitarian aid operations have intensified in recent weeks, including
airdrops and efforts for a maritime humanitarian corridor from Cyprus, but UN
and other aid agencies warn that these are insufficient to meet the desperate
needs in Gaza.