As the UN Secretary-General prepares to meet late Tuesday with representatives of countries that have announced the suspension of their donations to the United Nations Palestine Refugee Agency (UNRWA), the World Health Organization (WHO) reiterated that it is now not the case It's time to give up on the population of Gaza.
As the largest humanitarian organization in the enclave, UNRWA provides vital assistance to its residents by providing food, water and health services, while playing a key role in facilitating the work of other UN agencies and partners on the ground.
“Shelter, health centers and everything else is provided in Gaza by UNWRA“said WHO spokesman Christian Lindmeier. Echoing the words of its Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Lindmeier appealed to donors not to suspend funding to UNWRA “at this critical time.” Cutting funding will only hurt the people of Gaza who are desperately in need of help.
At least 26,637 Palestinians in Gaza have been killed, 65,387 injured and 1.7 million forced to leave their homes since Israel began its military campaign against the enclave on October 7 following Hamas attacks that left more than 250 people dead, of whom ever a hundred more will be kidnapped.
The United States said on Friday it had suspended funding in response to allegations against 12 UNRWA employees who Israel says were involved in the Oct. 7 attacks. The UN is conducting a full and urgent investigation and some staff suspected of being involved have been fired by the organization.
The risk of famine remains
Despite the efforts of UNRWA and other humanitarian partners in the Gaza Strip, many people are on the brink of starvation after almost four months of war.
Some have turned to aid convoys for food and supplies, including one in the southern town of Khan Younis on a Tuesday morning.
“This morning a convoy with patients, health workers and everyone who needed food tried to reach Nasser Hospital, but the population, in great need, had already accepted the supplies,” Lindmeier explained.
Far from being an isolated incident, the incident “shows how urgent the need is,” he told reporters in Geneva, warning of disease among Gaza's malnourished population.can spread like wildfire alongside bombings and building collapses“.
At Nasser Hospital itself, the WHO official reported that the situation had “only gotten worse” as “the shootings, the fighting… making access difficult for people to arrive or leave.”
Uprooted again
The events came as the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) warned that more people had been forced from their homes due to ongoing fighting and Israeli army evacuation orders.
“We are in the midst of another wave of displacement in Gaza“Under orders to evacuate large residential areas and amid intense hostilities,” OCHA said in a post on X, formerly Twitter. “More people are being killed or injured.” “The south is overpopulated and humanitarian access to the north is extremely limited.”