GAZA, (PIC)
Hamas Movement decried UNRWA’s decision to terminate the contracts of its employees in Gaza based on incorrect Israeli directives.
The Movement expressed in a statement on Saturday in strongest terms its denunciation of UNRWA’s Commissioner-General Mr. Philippe Lazzarini’s announcement of the termination of the contracts of UNRWA’s employees in Gaza based on “Israeli information about their alleged involvement in the October 7 attack.”
The announcement was made despite UNRWA’s acknowledgment that the contracts were terminated without completing all the requirements of a fair and impartial investigation, Hamas said.
“We strongly condemn the statement’s description of our people’s resistance as terrorism or hate acts. According to the mandate given to UNRWA, it must defend the rights of the refugees it represents. First and foremost is the right to protection and to resist the occupation by all available means, as well as the right to return to their homes from which they were forcibly displaced,” Hamas elaborated.
Hamas charged that the UN agency’s call for the release of captives held by the resistance is interference in none of its business, saying that UNRWA had been subjected to blackmail by countries that support Israel.
Hamas stressed that the refugees’ issue is not financial, asserting that it is an issue of political rights and should not be subject to blackmail by any party, calling on the international community, which created the Palestinian refugee problem, “to shoulder its responsibilities and provide a solution that ensures their return. Until then they should be granted the right to protection and decent life.”
The Movement called on UNRWA to immediately retract its decision and adhere to the mandate it has been granted by the international community.
Hamas stressed the need for the UN agency to immediately return to operate in all districts of the Gaza Strip, not to abide by the Israeli pressure, and to bear its legal and humanitarian responsibilities towards hundreds of thousands of refugees who are dying due to lack of food, water, and medicine, especially in the northern Gaza Strip.
