U.N Secretary-General, Antonio Guterres has stressed that the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) is the “backbone of all humanitarian response in Gaza.”
Israel has accused about a dozen UNRWA staff of taking part in the October 7 attacks, leading to fund cuts by several countries.
He called on governments that have frozen aid to the Palestinian refugee agency to renew their funding as Gaza reels under a humanitarian catastrophe and endures Israel’s continued assault.
Guterres entreated all countries to “guarantee the continuity of UNRWA’s life-saving work.”
Also, the Head of the World Health Organization, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, warned that decisions by various countries to pause funds for “UNRWA, the largest supplier of humanitarian aid in this crisis, will have catastrophic consequences for the people of Gaza.”
He added, “No other entity has the capacity to deliver the scale and breadth of assistance that 2.2 million people in Gaza urgently need. We appeal for these announcements to be reconsidered.”
Additionally, the European Union’s foreign policy Chief, Josep Borrell said that the UN agency’s work in delivering humanitarian aid and providing relief to Palestinians in Gaza is “critical to preserve.”
“Although an investigation is needed, we shouldn’t let allegations cloud UNRWA’s indispensable and great work,” he said on X.
Meanwhile, Sami Abou Shehadeh, the head of Balad/Tajamou party, praised those European countries that have not announced funding cuts to UNRWA in contrast with some other Western states.
He said the support given by “Spain, Belgium, Luxembourg, Norway and Ireland to the role and mandate of” UNRWA “is a lesson of decency.”
“Thanks for your support to the Palestinian people, to humanity and to the basic principles of a rules-based international order,” he said on X, referring to the countries he named.
Countries Urged To Reconsider Pause Of UNRWA Funding
Fifteen leaders of the United Nations agencies and nongovernmental humanitarian aid organisations appealed to the countries that paused funding for UNRWA to reconsider their decisions.
“Decisions by various Member States to pause funds from UNRWA will have catastrophic consequences for the people of Gaza,” the statement said.
“No other entity has the capacity to deliver the scale and breadth of assistance that 2.2 million people in Gaza urgently need,” it added.
Separately, Tobias Ellwood, a member of the UK parliament, told a news agency that cutting funding for “an organisation as important as UNRWA” in response to Israeli allegations against 12 out of 13,000 local participants of its programmes was just going “too far.”
“I am pleased to confirm that Britain hasn’t yet cut any funding. It is to pause funding in a couple of months time, by which time, we hope to have resolved this,” he said from London.
Ellwood also welcomed the UN chief’s ordering of an investigation into the case.
Meanwhile, Tamara Alrifai, a spokeswoman of the UN’s agency for Palestinian refugees, disclosed that while it dismissed nine of 12 UNRWA employees accused by Israel of taking part in the October 7 attacks, the move was made “preemptively” while investigations were under way.
“They were dismissed upon allegations preemptively. These now-former employees have the right of recourse in case the findings are in their favour,” Alrifai told a news agency.
She noted that Israel is aware of the identities of all its 13,000-member staff, emphasising the “sturdy recruitment” process and security checks carried out on each one.
“UNRWA shares the full list of names of its staff in Gaza, the West Bank, and East Jerusalem with Israel every year. So the list of our staff is known to the government of Israel. Host governments, including Israel, may come back to us with concerns over staff.
“We have not received concerns from the state of Israel upon their receiving these lists on an annual basis.”
Tamara Alrifai
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