The head of the UN agency for Palestinian Refugees (UNRWA), Philippe Lazzarini, called on Tuesday for an investigation into the deaths of more than 390 agency staff during the war in Gaza. +Get the most important news from Switzerland in your inbox “I believe we need a panel (…) a high-level panel of experts to investigate the killing of our staff,” Philippe Lazzarini told the press in Geneva on the final day of his tenure as head of the agency. According to him, “more than 390” UNRWA staff members have been killed since the start of the war in Gaza in October 2023. “Many others have suffered disabling injuries or have been arbitrarily detained and tortured,” he added. Investigations are also needed into the deaths of “other UN staff members, as complaints have also been lodged in this regard”, as well as “into the massive and unprecedented destruction of the agency’s or the UN’s premises in Gaza,” Lazzarini continued. The UN official, who said he had raised the issue of an ...
