UNRWA chief warns West Bank ‘is boiling’ as Israel-Hamas war rages on

UNRWA chief Philippe Lazzarini said on Thursday that he was concerned about the spillover risk of the situation in Gaza, adding that the West Bank “is boiling.”

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Lazzarini, the Commissioner General of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), also said there was need for a meaningful continuous humanitarian aid to Gaza including fuel.

He said aid coming in through Rafah was inadequate, adding that all crossings into Gaza should be opened.

Israel has occupied the West Bank since the 1967 Arab-Israeli war and its troops regularly launch raids across the Palestinian territory.

Since the Israel-Hamas war erupted in the Gaza Strip on October 7, Israeli forces have arrested more than 2,000 people across the West Bank, according to the Palestinian Prisoners’ Club advocacy group.

The Israeli military has put the figure at more than 1,000 and said most are affiliated with Hamas, the Palestinian militant group that rules the Gaza Strip.

At least 170 Palestinians and three Israelis have been killed across the West Bank since October 7, according to officials on both sides.

The Gaza war began with attacks on October 7 by Gaza-based Hamas militants, which Israeli officials say killed more than 1,400 people, most of them civilians.

Vowing to crush Hamas in response, Israel launched intense airstrikes and a ground invasion of Gaza, killing more than 10,800 people, also mostly civilians, according to the health ministry in the Hamas-run territory.

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