DUBAI, March 24. /TASS/. Israel will no longer let humanitarian convoys of the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) into the northern Gaza Strip, UNRWA Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini said.

"Despite the tragedy unfolding under our watch, the Israeli Authorities informed the UN that they will no longer approve any UNRWA food convoys" to northern Gaza, he wrote on his X account.

He slammed this move as outrageous and called on Israel to cancel this decision.

Lazzarini said earlier that Israel has been denying access to the northern part of the Palestinian enclave for UNRWA humanitarian convoys for nearly two months.

In late January, a number of countries, including the United Kingdom, the United States, Canada, and Germany, announced their decision to suspend financing for the UNRWA following reports about some of the agency’s employees possibly being linked with Hamas. UNRWA Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini ordered the dismissal of several agency employees due to their alleged connection to the Hamas attack on Israel last year. Later, the agency accused Israel of torturing its employees who had been taken prisoner to force them "confess" of having ties with the radical movement.

Tensions flared up again in the Middle East on October 7 after militants from the Gaza Strip-based radical Palestinian group Hamas launched a surprise incursion on Israeli territory, killing many Israeli kibbutz residents living near the Gaza border and abducting more than 240 Israelis, including women, children and the elderly. Israel declared a total blockade of the Gaza Strip and launched bombardments of the enclave and some areas in Lebanon and Syria, as well as a ground operation against Hamas in the Gaza Strip. Clashes are also reported in the West Bank.

According to the latest data from the Gaza health ministry, as many as 32,226 Palestinians have been killed and more than 74,500 have been wounded since the beginning of Israel’s aggression.