Palestinian aid agency UNRWA can't be replaced: UN chief

New York, Feb. 10: United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Thursday warned that the organisation's Palestinian refugee agency UNRWA cannot be replaced, even as it faces criticism and donor pullout after 12 staffers were accused by Israel of involvement in the Hamas-led October 7 attacks. 

Fears over conditions throughout Gaza are mounting as more than 1 million Palestinians seek shelter in Rafah, where Israel is intensifying bombardment in preparation for a possible ground operation.

UNRWA chief Philippe Lazzarini said in a separate statement Thursday that hundreds of thousands of lives are at risk in north and central Gaza because of a lack of food.

Hundreds of thousands of people's lives are at risk in north and central Gaza because of a lack of food, the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) warned on Thursday.

UNRWA chief Philippe Lazzarini said the last time the agency was allowed to deliver supplies to the area was more than two weeks ago on January 23.

Other agencies providing humanitarian aid also reported blocks on getting relief into the Palestinian territory, which has been bombarded by Israel since Hamas's deadly attack on October 7.

"Since the beginning of the year, half of our aid mission requests to the north were denied," Lazzarini wrote on X, formerly Twitter.

Meanwhile, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Wednesday said a ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas is still possible after Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu earlier rejected Hamas’s conditions as “delusional”. 

"While there are some clear non-starters in Hamas's response, we do think it creates space for agreement to be reached, and we will work at that relentlessly," Blinken told reporters in Tel Aviv hours after meeting with Netanyahu. Read our blog to see how the day's events unfolded.