UNRWA Commissioner, Philippe Lazzarini is clearly worried about the UN agency’s fate as he said on Thursday, February 1, 2024, that if the funding remains suspended “we will most likely be forced to shut down our operations by end of February not only in Gaza but also across the region.”
Israel has accused 12 employees of the UNRWA of having ties to Hamas or being involved in the October 7 attacks.
After these allegations, 16 countries, including the US and UK, suspended $440m worth of funding to UNRWA.
The UNRWA also stated that the “colossal humanitarian needs of over 2 million people in Gaza now face the risk of deepening” following the suspended funding.
In a statement, Lazzarini noted, “As the war in Gaza is being pursued unabated, and at the time the International Court of Justice calls for more humanitarian assistance it is the time to reinforce and not to weaken UNRWA.”
Meanwhile, Norway has promised to continue supporting the UN agency for Palestinian refugees.
Norwegian Foreign Minister, Espen Barth Eide also said that he is “reasonably optimistic” that some states that had suspended funding would resume payments.
Speaking to a news agency earlier this week, the Minister said that cutting funding was “the wrong reply.”
“That smells to me of collective punishment of everybody who works there but much more importantly of all the Palestinians that are dependent on the services of UNRWA,” he added.
“Hamas With Facelift”
However, Israeli Defence Minister, Yoav Gallant told a visiting delegation of ambassadors to the United Nations that the UN’s Palestinian refugee agency, UNRWA, is “Hamas with a facelift” and has “lost its legitimacy to exist in its current form.”
“Funds from countries all over the world have been funnelled through UNRWA and used to strengthen terror infrastructure, and to pay terrorists,” the Defence Minister was quoted as saying.
A statement from the defence ministry did not say where the meeting with the delegation led by Israel’s Ambassador to the UN Gilad Erdan took place and who the international members of the delegation were.
More than 150 UNRWA staff have been killed in Gaza since Israel began bombing the territory, the largest number of UN personnel killed in an operation since World War II.
Palestinian officials say that steps taken by some Western countries to suspend funding to the agency constitute “collective punishment” against millions of Palestinians refugees.
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