STORY: Egyptian FM stresses UN agency's vital role in Gaza aid distribution
SHOOTING TIME: Recent footage
DATELINE: July 9, 2024
LENGTH: 00:00:57
LOCATION: Cairo
CATEGORY: POLITICS

SHOTLIST: 
1. various of Badr Abdelatty speaking (source: MFA)
2. various of Egyptian Foreign Ministry's headquarters in New Administrative Capital

STORYLINE:

Egypt's Minister of Foreign, Emigration and Expatriates' Affairs Badr Abdelatty stressed on Monday the vital role of the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) regarding aid distribution in the Gaza Strip.

"There is no alternative to UNRWA in Gaza, as it is the only agency with distribution centers in the strip," said Minister Badr Abdelatty in a joint televised press conference with the visiting Commissioner-General of UNRWA Philippe Lazzarini.

Abdelatty reiterated the necessity of "an immediate ceasefire and the unconditional access of humanitarian and medical aid to Gaza." The minister expressed Egypt's keenness to work with UNRWA, calling on the international community and donor parties to reconsider funding the agency.

Lazzarini confirmed that UNRWA institutions in Gaza have been the targets of Israeli military operations since the beginning of the ongoing conflict. The commissioner-general noted that 2,000 UN employees have been killed so far in the war in Gaza.

Lazzarini added that the absence of a safe area in the Gaza Strip has forced around 250,000 Palestinians to flee the southern city of Khan Younis this week.

"A generation may be deprived of education in the besieged strip after the destruction of most schools," said Lazzarini, who called for the release of captives, an immediate ceasefire, and the provision of humanitarian aid. 

According to UNRWA numbers, the agency looks after 1.4 million registered refugees in Gaza. That's approximately 74 percent of the enclave's total population of 1.9 million.

Xinhua News Agency correspondents reporting from Cairo.
(XHTV)