Lazzarini warns Gaza aid mission could collapse if funding withdrawn
Jan 29, 2024
Tel Aviv [Israel], January 29: The head of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) has warned of an end to aid to millions in need in Gaza, following a temporary suspension of payments due to the alleged involvement of some of its employees in the Hamas massacre in Israel.
"Nine countries have as of today temporarily suspended their funding to UNRWA. These decisions threaten our ongoing humanitarian work across the region including and especially in the Gaza Strip," Philippe Lazzarini said in a statement on the UNRWA website. The aid organisation runs shelters for more than one million people and provides food and basic medical care.
"Our humanitarian operation, on which 2 million people depend as a lifeline in Gaza, is collapsing," he wrote on Saturday evening on the online platform X, formerly Twitter.
He said he was shocked that such decisions were being made on the basis of the presumed behaviour of a few people. "Palestinians in Gaza did not need this additional collective punishment. This stains all of us," Lazzarini added.
Important donors such as the US, Great Britain and Germany decided to temporarily halt funding because 12 of the organisation's several thousand employees in the Gaza Strip were allegedly involved in the October 7 attacks. They were dismissed immediately.
Lazzarini had announced that Israel had provided the aid organisation with information implicating UNRWA employees in the attacks. He and UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres were appalled and threatened those involved with criminal prosecution if the suspicions were confirmed. Neither the UN nor Israel have detailed how the employees may have been involved in the Hamas attacks.
The death toll from the Israeli strikes in the Gaza Strip has reached 26,422, while 65,087 people have been injured, the Gaza Health Ministry said on Sunday. "The number of victims of Israeli aggression since October 7 has risen to 26,422; 65,087 were injured," the ministry said on Telegram.
Source: Qatar Tribune
