UN chief states there is no alternative to UNRWA
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United Nations: In the face of increased Israeli efforts to dismantle UNRWA, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres announced on Friday that there is no substitute for the UN agency that handles Palestinian refugees.
118 nations supported UNRWA as an essential humanitarian organisation. For millions of Palestinians living in the Gaza Strip, the West Bank, Jordan, Syria, and Lebanon, the UN Relief and Works Agency offers health care, education, and aid.
UN representatives have emphasised that UNRWA remains the backbone of relief efforts since the conflict between Israel and the Palestinian militant organisation Hamas broke out in Gaza nine months ago, Reuters reported.
“My appeal to everyone is this: Protect UNRWA, protect UNRWA staff, and protect UNRWA’s mandate — including through funding,” Guterres told a UNRWA pledging conference in New York on Friday. “Let me be clear: there is no alternative to UNRWA.”
Benjamin Netanyahu, the prime minister of Israel, has long demanded that UNRWA be disbanded on the grounds that it has incited anti-Israel sentiment. At the moment, the Israeli parliament is debating whether to classify UNRWA as a terrorist organisation.
Following allegations by Israel that certain UNRWA employees were complicit in the October 7 Hamas attack on Israel that triggered this Gaza War, a number of nations stopped funding UNRWA. With the UN conducting an internal probe, most donors have since restored their contributions. 195 UNRWA employees have lost their lives during the war in Gaza.
“UNRWA is also being targeted in other ways,” Guterres said. “Staff have been the subject of increasingly violent protests and virulent misinformation and disinformation campaigns.”
“Some have been detained by Israeli security forces, and subsequently reported mistreatment and even torture,” he said
stating that Israel has also placed significant restrictions on the presence and movements of UNRWA employees in the West Bank. According to the Israeli military, it follows both Israeli and international law and provides water, food, medication, and appropriate clothing to anyone it arrests. Israel charges UNRWA of having ties to Hamas, claiming the militant Islamic organisation was ingrained in the UN agency's infrastructure.
After the first Arab-Israeli war, the UN General Assembly established UNRWA in 1949. Prior to the pledge ceremony on Friday, Jordan's UN ambassador, Mahmoud Daifallah Hmoud, announced that 118 nations had signed a joint statement supporting UNRWA and its work.
The statement underlined “that UNRWA is the backbone of all humanitarian response in Gaza, and recognizing that no organization can replace or substitute UNRWA’s capacity.”
