The UN company for Palestinian refugees chief Philippe Lazzarini warned Thursday that the company has reached a breaking level because it grapples to deal with Israel’s conflict on Gaza.
“It is with profound regret that I must now inform you that UNRWA has reached a breaking point,” Lazzarini stated, as donors freeze funding, Israel exerts strain to dismantle the company and humanitarian wants soar.
“The Agency’s ability to fulfill the mandate given through General Assembly resolution 302 is now seriously threatened,” he stated in a letter to the meeting.
That is the decision beneath which the company was based in 1949, following the creation of Israel.
UNRWA employs some 30,000 individuals working within the occupied territories, Lebanon, Jordan and Syria.
Several international locations – together with the United States, Britain, Germany and Japan – have suspended funding to UNRWA in response to Israeli allegations that a few of its employees participated within the Oct. 7 Hamas incursion.
In an interview revealed over the weekend, Lazzarini stated $438 million has been frozen – the equal of greater than half of anticipated funding for 2024. He stated Israel was waging a concerted effort to destroy UNRWA.
The U.N. fired the staff accused by Israel and has begun an inner probe of UNRWA.
U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has additionally tasked an impartial panel with assessing whether or not UNRWA acts in a impartial vogue within the Israeli-Palestinian battle.
Lazzarini asserted Thursday that Israel has supplied no proof towards the 12 former workers it accuses, however 16 international locations have suspended funding anyway.
“I have cautioned donors and host countries that without new funding, UNRWA operations across the region will be severely compromised from March,” he stated.
He added: “I fear we are on the edge of a monumental disaster with grave implications for regional peace, security and human rights.”
Israel has pounded the Gaza Strip because the Oct. 7 Hamas incursion. The ensuing Israeli conflict has killed greater than 29,410 individuals and triggered mass destruction and shortages of requirements. Nearly 70,000 individuals have been injured.
Around 1,160 Israelis are believed to have been killed within the Hamas incursion, whereas over 200 had been taken again to Gaza as hostages.
Source: www.dailysabah.com