NEW YORK, (PIC)
UN agencies have warned of catastrophic consequences of halting funding to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) on the people of the Gaza Strip.
Stephane Dujarric, spokesman for the Secretary-General of the United Nations, said in a press conference in New York on Tuesday, “Israel has not yet submitted a written file regarding the allegations it made about the involvement of 12 Palestinian workers for the UN agency in Hamas’s October 7 attack on Israel.”
The UN spokesman underlined that UNRWA had previously shared its staff list with the host country, and also shared it with Israel, without the latter expressing any concerns about it.
For their part, the heads of the Joint Committee of United Nations Agencies said in a statement, The decisions to pause funding to UNRWA would entail catastrophic consequences for the people of Gaza and will lead to the collapse of the humanitarian system as no other entity has the capacity to deliver assistance to the stranded refugees in the besieged enclave.
The United Nations Aid Coordinator in Gaza, Sigrid Kaag, said yesterday that no organization can replace the UNRWA.
For his part, Secretary-General of the United Nations, António Guterres, held a closed meeting with donor countries to UNRWA to acquaint them with the measures taken by the United Nations regarding the Israeli accusations against a number of the agency’s employees.
The Palestinian delegate to the United Nations, Riyad Mansour, said Guterres appealed to the member states that suspended their funding to UNRWA in order to reconsider their decision. He also appealed to other countries to increase their contributions to the agency, emphasizing its role in responding to the humanitarian crisis in Gaza.
For his part, the United Nations rapporteur on poverty and human rights expressed his hope that the countries which suspended its funding to UNRWA would retract their positions.
Amnesty International called on the countries which decided to defund the UN agency to retract their unjust decision.
Meanwhile, the UN Security Council expressed in a statement its concerns over the dangerous and rapidly deteriorating humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip, stressing the urgent need to expand the flow of humanitarian aid to the people of the war-torn Gaza Strip.
The Security Council urged all parties to work with the United Nations Coordinator for Humanitarian and Reconstruction Affairs on Gaza.
