The head of the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) is coming to the UN General Assembly on Monday to make his case as the survival of the “backbone” of humanitarian aid in Gaza is at risk following Israeli allegations against several of its staff became.
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In a letter addressed to the President of the General Assembly in late February, Philippe Lazzarini called for help: “The agency has reached a breaking point, with Israel repeatedly calling for its dissolution and a freeze on donor funding in the face of unprecedented humanitarian needs in Gaza.
Its ability to fulfill its mandate, stemming from a 1949 General Assembly resolution, is “now seriously jeopardized,” he stressed, calling for “political support” from member states.
UNRWA has been at the center of controversy since Israel accused 12 of its employees in late January of being involved in the October 7 attack by the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas that killed 1,160 people, mostly civilians, according to the AFP count.
The UN immediately separated the living accused employees and launched an internal investigation. At the same time, Secretary-General Antonio Guterres commissioned an independent group to assess UNRWA and its “neutrality.”
“Central role”
The European Commission welcomed these initiatives and announced on Friday that it would release 50 million euros for UNRWA.
But about fifteen countries have suspended their funding totaling $450 million – representing more than half of the funding received in 2023.
The first to announce this decision was the United States, the main payer of this chronically underfunded agency, which employs approximately 30,000 people in the Israeli-occupied Palestinian territories (including 13,000 in the Gaza Strip), Lebanon, Jordan and Syria.
Washington has shifted some of its aid to NGOs and other UN organizations.
But Antonio Guterres repeatedly reiterates that no other organization has the capacity to replace UNRWA, which, in addition to humanitarian aid, also directly manages schools and hospitals.
“Other humanitarian organizations cannot replicate UNRWA’s central role in humanitarian assistance in Gaza,” several NGOs such as Save the Children and Action Against Hunger stressed in a joint statement.
They warned of the risk of a “complete collapse of humanitarian assistance” in Gaza, where Israeli bombings and military operations have claimed more than 30,500 lives, mostly civilians, according to the Hamas health ministry.
“Collective Failure”
On the investigative side, the UN Secretary-General received an initial report from the UN services that led the internal investigation against the accused employees.
“The investigation continues,” his spokesman said on Thursday, adding that investigators hoped to “soon” receive the documents in the possession of Israeli authorities.
UNRWA also insisted that Israel had provided “no evidence” to the allegations against the 12 staff members.
This is not the first time that UNRWA has come under criticism. Israel accused the country of “perpetuating the conflict in the Middle East,” and in 2018, Donald Trump’s United States, which viewed Israel as too pro-Palestinian, stopped funding it.
But the agency defends itself, stressing that its mandate, focused on helping Palestinian refugees, should only be temporary and that its continued existence 75 years later is “the result of a collective failure” to resolve Israel's political problem. – Palestinians.
In this context, Philippe Lazzarini also called on the General Assembly to “lay the foundations to initiate the transition of UNRWA towards a long-awaited political solution”.