BEIRUT: Most Palestinian refugees living in camps in southern Lebanon or near Beirut have fled following escalating Israeli strikes, the head of the UN agency on Palestine refugees said on Friday, drawing parallels with mass displacement in Gaza.
UNRWA chief Philippe Lazzarini said that the agency continued to provide services to the most vulnerable left behind — and that repeatedly fleeing was sadly “part of the history” of Palestinians. “Now, that’s part, unfortunately, of the plight, but if you compare it with what happened also in Gaza recently, you might have heard me describing how people are constantly being moved like pinballs. And one of the fears is that we replicate a situation similar to the one we have seen until now in Gaza,” he said.
Israel has ramped up strikes across southern Lebanon and on Beirut’s once-densely populated southern suburbs over the last three weeks, issuing evacuation warnings for more than 100 towns in southern Lebanon and neighborhoods near the capital.
They include evacuation warnings and strikes on the Burj Al-Barajneh Palestinian refugee camp in Beirut’s southern suburbs and the Rashidiyeh Palestinian refugee camp near the south coastal city of Tyre. Many of the Palestinians who arrived in Lebanon after Israel’s creation in 1948, and their descendants, were living in 12 refugee camps around the country, which hosted about 174,000 Palestinian refugees.
Israeli leaders have accused UNRWA staff of collaborating with Hamas militants in Gaza, leading many donors to suspend funding.
The UN launched an investigation into Israel’s accusations and dismissed nine staff.
In July, the Israeli parliament gave preliminary approval to a bill that would declare UNRWA a “terrorist organization.”
Asked about the move, Lazzarini said the agency “has never, ever been as much under assault and attack.”
“A year ago, it was primarily a financial existential threat, but today it’s a combination of a political and financial threat. 2025 will be, again, a difficult year,” he said. He said he would have more clarity early next year on whether the US would resume funding.