Gazans flee war like ‘human pinballs’ whilst UNRWA lacks funding

UNRWA

With UNRWA currently facing “a profound funding gap”, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres appealed for financial support for the agency helping Palestinians in Gaza and the Middle East at a donors conference in New York , reported The New Arab and agencies on July 12th.

Guterres added that Israel’s issuing of evacuation orders in Gaza has resulted in Palestinians “to move like human pinballs across a landscape of destruction and death.”

According to the Associated Press, Phillipe Lazzarini, the UNRWA Commissioner-General, stated at the start of the conference that the agency only had funds to operate through August.

The total amount in pledges will not be known until next week. However, Lazzarini remains confident that there will be sufficient funds to keep the agency running until the end of September through its $850 million annual budget.

READ: UNRWA says restrictions render Gaza aid “nearly impossible”

UNRWA’s 30,000 staff currently help around 6 million refugees in Gaza, the West Bank, Jordan, Lebanon, and Syria. The agency provides education, primary health care and other development activities to help displaced Palestinians in the Middle East.

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Lazzarini has stated that UNRWA will seek funds in the coming months to ensure that operations can carry on through to December. The emergency appeals currently stand at $1.2 billion for the Gaza war and $460 million for the Syria crisis; only 20% of the funding has been secured for both initiatives.

“Palestinian refugees will lose a critical lifeline and the last ray of hope for a better future,” if no financial support is provided to UNRWA, stated Guterres, adding that there is “no alternative”.

The UN chief further criticised the Israeli military’s actions in the Gaza Strip, stating, “the extreme level of fighting and devastation is incomprehensible and inexcusable — and the level of chaos is affecting every Palestinian in Gaza and all those desperately trying to get aid to them.”

The Secretary-General lamented the civilian suffering and bloodshed in Gaza City, commenting, “Just when we thought it couldn’t get any worse in Gaza — somehow, appallingly, civilians are being pushed into ever deeper circles of hell.”. Nothing justifies the October 7th attacks committed by Hamas in southern Israel, he said, and “nothing justifies the collective punishment of the Palestinian people.”

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UNRWA has also faced losses, including 197 staff that have been killed, the highest staff death toll in UN history. UNRWA has been underfunded for many years, with 2024 proving more difficult following allegations made by the Israeli government that 12 of the agency’s 13,000 workers in Gaza cooperated with Hamas in the October 7th attacks that triggered the ongoing war in the coastal enclave. UNRWA immediately suspended the workers suspected of participating in the attack.

READ: Violent Israeli protestors close UNRWA headquarters      

16 countries halted funding the agency because of the allegations, leading to a $450 million shortfall. The lack of evidence to support the claims led 14 donors to resume funding for the agency, with the UK expected to rejoin the effort “very soon,” stated Lazzarini.

The United States, previously the biggest donor to UNRWA, remains the only country that has not resumed funding to the agency. US Congress prohibited payments to the agency until March 25th, 2025.

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Lazzarini welcomed Slovenia’s Foreign Minister Tanja Fajon’s announcement that 118 countries had signed a declaration of strong support for UNRWA. The United States was among the signatories despite its absence at the conference.

UNRWA faces mounting pressure in the coming months with the humanitarian crisis continuing to deteriorate and the agency’s staff facing mistreatment from Israeli authorities. Guterres has stated that staff have been subject to “increasing violent protests”,” virulent misinformation” campaigns and even torture in some cases.

In late May, the Knesset moved to designate UNRWA as a ‘terrorist organisation’. The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian refugees in the Near East was established in 1950 following the ‘Nakba’, which resulted in the displacement of 750,000 people.

The death toll from the war in Gaza since the October 7th attacks currently stands at 38,917, with more than 88,000 injured, according to the Gaza Health Ministry.

The New Arab / Asharq Al-Awsat and agencies

 

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