GAZA TRACK, KOMPAS.com – Head of the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) Philippe Lazzarini accused Israel of attempting to carry out a mass expulsion of Gazans to Egypt.
In an opinion article published in the Los Angeles Times on Saturday (9/12/2023), Lazzarini touched on the worsening humanitarian crisis in the Gaza Strip.
He also highlighted the increasing concentration of displaced civilians near the border, first in the north and then further south.
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“The UN and several member states, including the United States, firmly reject the forced transfer of Gazans from the Gaza Strip,” said Lazzarini.
“But the developments we are witnessing indicate that there is an attempt to move Palestinians to Egypt, regardless of whether they will remain there or be resettled elsewhere,” he added, as quoted by AFP.
Lazzarini said that the widespread destruction in the northern Gaza region and the resulting displacement was the first stage of such a scenario. Meanwhile, forcing civilians from the southern city of Khan Yunis closer to the Egyptian border is the next stage.
“If this path continues, leading to what many people call the second Nakba, Gaza will no longer be a land for Palestinians,” Lazzarini said.
Nakba is an Arabic term to describe the forced exodus or displacement of 760,000 Palestinians during the war that coincided with the founding of the state of Israel in 1948.
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Responding to these accusations, a spokesperson for the Israeli Ministry of Defense office responsible for Palestinian civil affairs said it was not true that his country wanted to move Gazans to Egypt.
“There is, there has never been and will never be an Israeli plan to move the Gaza population to Egypt. This is absolutely not true,” he said.
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2023-12-10 14:58:00
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