NEW YORK: Chief of the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) warned on Wednesday that dismantling the aid agency would accelerate Gaza’s slide into famine.
UNRWA has been a major provider of education as well as food to Palestinian refugees since the creation of Israel in 1948.
Israel has blamed 12 of the nearly 13,000 people working in the Gaza Strip for the aid agency for participating in the October 7 Hamas attack. Israel also alleges UNRWA has become a front for Hamas, which controls Gaza.
UNRWA director Philippe Lazzarini told the UN Security Council that the agency is the backbone of UN humanitarian operations in war-hit Gaza.
He said there is an insidious campaign going on to dismantle UNRWA and that would have lasting consequences on the Palestinian refugees.
Lazzarini said that such action would worsen the humanitarian crisis in Gaza and accelerate the onset of famine.
Famine a real possibility in Gaza
Humanitarian officials have already warned that famine could be a real possibility in northern Gaza as food supplies decrease.
According to the health ministry in Gaza Israel’s relentless bombardment has killed at least 33,899 people in Gaza, mostly women and children.
Lazzarini said that dismantling UNRWA will deprive the traumatized population of basic services.
UNRWA said it has already sacked the 12 employees accused by Israel of participating in the October Hamas attack and is now facing the internal UN inquiry.
A probe about the neutrality of UNRWA was also undertaken and its final report is scheduled to be released on Monday.
Israel’s ambassador to the UN, Gilad Erdan, told the Security Council that one of UNRWA’s primary objectives is to inculcate Palestinian children with the idea of destroying Israel.
He demanded to defund defund UNRWA.
