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The Commissioner-General of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA), Philippe Lazzarini, stressed that educating children in Gaza must be part of any agreement to end the war in the Strip. Lazzarini said on X platform, "The education of children must be part of any agreement to end the war in Gaza. The proposed plan must offer some hope to more than 660,000 children out of school for the third year." "Bringing them back to learning should be a collective priority to promote lasting peace and stability," he added. "With its unique workforce, UNRWA has the expertise, the infrastructure and the know-how to support a phased return to formal education of children in the war-torn enclave once a ceasefire is in place." Lazzarini explained that before the war, UNRWA provided education in its schools to more than 300,000 children. He called on member states to support UNRWA in safeguarding its mandate and work so that it can continue to make a tangible difference in the lives and futures of Palestinian children. "Without education, children risk falling prey into the cycle of exploitation or extremism," he added. Lazzarini concluded his statement by reaffirming the need for a "ceasefire now." The US President announced a plan to end the war in the Gaza Strip through a comprehensive agreement that guarantees the uninterrupted delivery of sufficient humanitarian aid to the Strip, the prevention of the displacement of Palestinians, the release of hostages, the establishment of a security mechanism that guarantees the security of all parties, a full Israeli withdrawal, the reconstruction of Gaza, and the establishment of a just peace process based on the two-state solution, under which Gaza will be fully united with the West Bank in a Palestinian state in accordance with international law, as this is the key to achieving regional stability and security.

The Commissioner-General of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) Philippe Lazzarini announced that in the past four days alone, Israel has struck 10 UNRWA buildings in Gaza City, including seven schools and two clinics currently serving as shelters for thousands of displaced people.Lazzarini added in a post on UNRWA's X platform account that no place and no one is safe in Gaza City and its north, where the intensity of airstrikes is increasing, forcing more Palestinians to flee into the unknown.Commenting on the situation in Gaza City, he said, "We were forced to suspend healthcare at Al-Shati refugee camp, the only health care available north of Wadi Gaza. Our vital water and sanitation services are now only at half capacity."The UN official continued, "In the past four days alone, 10 UNRWA buildings have been targeted in Gaza City," calling for an immediate ceasefire.Days ago, Israel began a campaign of gradual destruction of high-rise residential buildings in Gaza City, forcing more families into displacement under harsh and dire conditions. Meanwhile, human rights organizations warn that the goal is to forcibly displace residents southward, as part of a broader plan to displace them outside the Gaza Strip.

AFP Gaza Strip The Red Cross warned Saturday that any Israeli attempt to evacuate Gaza City would put residents at risk, as Israel's military tightened its siege on the area ahead of a planned offensive.Gaza's civil defence agency said that since dawn Israeli attacks had killed 61 people in the territory already devastated by nearly 23 months of war."It is impossible that a mass evacuation of Gaza City could ever be done in a way that is safe and dignified under the current conditions," International Committee of the Red Cross President Mirjana Spoljaric said in a statement. The dire state of shelter, healthcare and nutrition in Gaza meant evacuation was "not only unfeasible but incomprehensible under the present circumstances".Israel is under increasing pressure to end its offensive in Gaza where the great majority of the population has been displaced at least once and the United Nations has declared a famine. But despite the calls at home and abroad for an end to the war, the Israeli army is readying itself for an operation to seize the Palestinian territory's largest city and relocate its inhabitants.The Israeli military has declared Gaza City a "dangerous combat zone", without the daily pauses in fighting that have allowed limited food deliveries elsewhere. The military did not call for the population to leave immediately, but a day earlier COGAT, the Israeli defence ministry body that oversees civil affairs in the Palestinian territories, said it was making preparations "for moving the population southward for their protection".Gaza's civil defence spokesman Mahmud Bassal told AFP 57 people had been killed in Israeli bombing since dawn. The army did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the figure. Bassal said 12 people were killed when an Israeli air strike hit "a number of displaced people's tents" near a mosque in the al-Nasr area, west of Gaza City.Umm Imad Kaheel, who was nearby at the time, said children were among those killed in the strike, which had "shaken the earth". "People were screaming and panicking, everyone running, trying to save the injured and retrieve the martyrs lying on the ground," the 36-year-old said.The civil defence agency said 12 people were killed by Israeli fire as they waited near food distribution centres in the north, south and centre. A journalist working for AFP on the northern edge of Gaza City reported he had been ordered to evacuate by the army, adding conditions had become increasingly difficult, with gunfire and explosions nearby. Abu Mohammed Kishko, a resident of the city's Zeitoun neighbourhood, told AFP the bombardments the previous night had been "insane"."It didn't stop for a second, and we didn't sleep all night," the 42-year-old said.