India pledges continued support to UN agency to back Palestinians

New York: India has reaffirmed its commitment to support the UN Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), which aids Palestinians and is currently grappling with a financial crisis exacerbated by the Israel-Hamas conflict in Gaza.

R. Ravindra, the charge d’affaires of India’s UN mission, said that the nation will continue its annual contributions of $5 million to the agency and will release half the amount in the coming days.

He was speaking at a pledging conference to help the UN Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) which provides humanitarian assistance to Palestinians and is facing a shortfall in budget after its biggest contributor, the United States, and some other countries suspended payments amid allegations of that its staff were involved in terrorism.

Washington contributes about $340 million to UNRWA’s $1.6 billion budget but the US Congress has passed a legislative measure to stop aid to the agency till at least next year.

General Assembly President, Dennis Francis said, “Considering the essential services delivered by the agency and its staff, it should deeply alarm us all that UNRWA is currently standing on the precipice of financial collapse.”

In his pitch for donations to make up for the shortfall, he referred to Commissioner-General Lazzarini’s warning that the budget deficit could force it to end operations this year.

UNRWA, the largest UN agency with 30,000 employees, provides a range of services, from food delivery and housing to healthcare and education.

Ravindra said that UNRWA’s “role to assuage the difficult humanitarian situation remains critical, particularly its humanitarian and social services to the Palestinian refugee community living in Palestine, Syria, Jordan, and Lebanon.”

Beyond UNRWA, he said, India has been a “trusted development partner” for the people of Palestine. “Our developmental assistance to Palestine in various forms over the years amounts to close to $120 million, including $35 million as contribution to UNRWA”, he said.

In addition, New Delhi is giving scholarships to 50 Palestinian students to pursue undergraduate, postgraduate and doctoral studies in India and is donating medicines requested by UNRWA. “There is also a request from Palestinian Authority for life-saving medicines, which we are actively considering”, he added.

Ravindra prefaced the aid commitment to UNRWA with a strong condemnation of the October 7 Hamas terrorist attack on Israel which is at the root of the UNRWA crisis and the humanitarian disaster in Gaza.

“The barbaric terrorist attack on 7th October last year deserves our unequivocal condemnation and we demand unconditional release of all hostages”, he said referring to the hostages taken by Hamas and other groups during the attack which killed about 1,200 people in Israel. At the same time, he said, “India has taken a principled position on the ongoing Israel-Hamas conflict in Gaza and strongly condemned the death of civilians, especially women and children.”

Source: IANS