Philippe Lazzarini spoke to reporters in New York after an independent inquiry led by former French minister Catherine Colonna cleared Israel of proving that UNRWA staff were involved in terrorist activities, but flagged areas for improvement in terms of neutrality and transparency.

"I called on the members of the Security Council for an independent investigation and accountability for the blatant disrespect for UN premises, UN personnel and UN operations in the Gaza Strip," the UNRWA chief insisted.

"To date, 180 UNRWA staff have been killed. Last week it was 178. And over 160 installations have been damaged or completely destroyed," the agency chief said at UN headquarters in New York.

UNRWA, which employs over 30,000 people across the region, has been accused by Israel of having "more than 400 terrorists" in its ranks in the Gaza Strip.

In addition, the Israeli authorities have accused 12 employees of this UN agency of being directly involved in the unprecedented October 7 attack perpetrated by Hamas on Israeli soil, which left around 1,200 dead and 250 hostages.

However, "UNRWA has received no evidence from Israel" of this possible involvement of Palestinian officials with Hamas, despite the allegations made by the Israeli authorities.

The accusations led 16 countries to suspend or freeze funding, depriving UNRWA of $450 million (almost €423 million) and threatening the continuity of its operations, both in the Gaza Strip and in other areas of the region where Palestinian refugees are also present, although some countries have since resumed donations.

The European Union today appealed to donors to continue supporting UNRWA, but the White House called for "real progress" before reopening the American purse, which is closed until March 2025.

As a result, UNRWA operates on limited funds on a daily basis, having collected $100 million (€93.4 million) in private donations, "an extraordinary sign of solidarity on the ground", said Philippe Lazzarini.

In turmoil for months, the Italo-Swiss head of the UN agency directly attacked Israel, which on Monday night described UNRWA in Gaza as a "rotten and poisonous tree whose roots are Hamas".

"The real objective behind the attacks on UNRWA is political in nature: it is to deprive the Palestinians of refugee status, starting with Gaza, Jerusalem and the West Bank," he argued.

And "this is exactly what we heard in the (Security) Council from the Israeli ambassador (to the UN, Gilad Erdan). It is a state objective," he argued.

Lazzarini promised on Monday night to "implement the recommendations" of the Colonna report to resolve the agency's "neutrality issues", which the investigation considered "irreplaceable" for the 5.9 million Palestinians in the region.

But he warned last week: in the event of the agency being "dismantled", there could be a "famine" that is already threatening the north of the Palestinian territory, where more than 34,000 people, mostly civilians, have been killed since the start of the Israeli offensive, according to the Hamas Ministry of Health.

At the press conference, Lazzarini also indicated that the traffic of trucks carrying humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip had improved in April and had reached a 'peak' of 360 vehicles on Monday, assessing it as "a positive trend".

Lazzarini also added that, for the first time in many days, these trucks were not attacked by people desperate to access the cargo, as has happened in recent weeks.

On the other hand, he warned of the imminent problem that the lack of garbage collection in Gaza will represent now that the hot months are approaching, an issue that has become a priority for the agency.

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