Juliette Touma, UNRWA’s Global Director of Communications, has emphasized that Israel has no alternative for the agency’s humanitarian activities in the besieged enclave.

She said that Israel’s ban on the agency will have “catastrophic” consequences, particularly for education.

Israel has officially notified the UN of its decision to cut ties with UNRWA.

In a statement on Monday, November 4, 2024, the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs said that it cancelled a cooperation agreement from 1967, which provided the legal basis for the country’s relations with the refugee agency.

Touma noted that it’s a race against time for member states around the world to work with the state of Israel to not implement this ban. “You see, 2 million people in Gaza depend on URWA for their sheer survival, including food assistance and primary healthcare. The question is, who is going to replace UNRWA?” she said.

“And in the context of when this brutal war finally comes to an end, who will provide education and learning to what we estimate is 400,000 boys and girls who go to UNRWA schools? Who? What is the plan? We don’t have any answer to that.”

“So it’s easy to talk. The question is, what are you going to do about the ban and how are you going to fill the void? ‘You’ meaning the state of Israel.”
Juliette Touma

Touma iterated that halting the agency’s operations could lead to a total collapse of food and humanitarian aid distribution for Gaza’s two million residents.

“The Israeli public has fallen victim to a campaign spreading false information about UNRWA. The assumption that if we close UNRWA we will eliminate the Palestinian refugee problem is a naive concept.”
Juliette Touma

Gaza’s Humanitarian Crisis Worsens

Meanwhile, Gaza’s civil defence said that the northern part of the enclave is “facing a real famine” due to the Israeli forces’ prevention of entry of aid.

It said in a statement that the Israeli forces continue to disrupt humanitarian and medical services in northern Gaza for the 14th day in a row, to put pressure on the people in northern Gaza.

Separately, the UN’s sexual and reproductive health agency disclosed that its partners in Gaza are reporting a rise in premature births and maternal deaths amid Israel’s war on the Palestinian enclave.

It said that sexual and reproductive healthcare, including postnatal and family planning services, have become severely limited for 155,000 pregnant and breastfeeding women, who face serious health risks due to a lack of prenatal and postnatal care. “Complicated and high-risk pregnancies linked with negative outcomes have increased, while access to safe childbirth services has dramatically decreased, especially in the North,” the agency said.

It added that many women are being forced to give birth without access to medical support.

According to the agency, menstrual hygiene has also become nearly impossible to manage, as over 690,000 menstruating women lack access to basic sanitary supplies.

It said that the cost of essential items like soap has skyrocketed “by 1,100%, making it impossible to keep clean and increasing women’s vulnerability to violence and exploitation.”

Meanwhile, a World Health Organization official said that more than 100 patients, including children, suffering from trauma injuries and chronic diseases will be evacuated from Gaza tomorrow in a rare transfer out of the war-ravaged enclave.

Rik Peeperkorn, WHO representative for the occupied Palestinian territory, noted that these are ad hoc measures. “What we have requested repeatedly is a sustained medevac (medical evacuation) outside of Gaza,” he stated, adding that 12,000 people were awaiting transfer.

The patients will travel in a large convoy via the Karem Abu Salem crossing, known as Kerem Shalom in Israel, before flying to the United Arab Emirates, he added, and then some of them will travel to Romania.