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Jakarta –
UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres will meet with the main donor country, the Palestine Refugee Agency (UNRWA) this week. The meeting will take place amid a funding crisis triggered by Israel which accused several UNRWA employees of involvement in the October 7 attack.
Reported by Anadolu Agency, Tuesday (30/1/2024), Spokesperson for the UN Secretary General, Stephane Dujarric, said Guterres would host a meeting at the UN headquarters in New York City on Tuesday afternoon.
He has not explained in detail what Guterres will convey at the meeting with UNRWA leadership and regional leaders. It is known that around half of UNRWA’s main donors have stopped their funding.
Dujarric said UNRWA serves millions of people in Gaza, East Jerusalem, Jordan, Lebanon and Syria. He said the fate of the people UNRWA had helped was very bleak.
“The important humanitarian work carried out by the UN not only in Gaza but throughout the region needs to be supported. People’s lives depend on it,” said Dujarric.
Dujarric said Guterres met with America’s UN envoy, Linda Thomas-Greenfield, on Monday morning, after Washington suspended his contribution.
UNRWA employs more than 13,000 people in Gaza. Some 12 people are accused by Israel of taking part in the attack.
UNRWA said it terminated contracts with several employees following the allegations.
At least 12 countries such as Germany, Switzerland, Italy, Canada, Finland, Australia, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, the United States, France, Austria and Japan have suspended funding for UNRWA which was founded in 1949 to help Palestinian refugees in the Middle East.
Israel’s accusations came as the International Court of Justice (ICJ) on Friday found South Africa’s claim that Israel committed genocide to be plausible. The court issued an interim ruling urging Israel to stop blocking aid deliveries to Gaza and improve the humanitarian situation.
UNRWA has launched a full investigation into the allegations. UNRWA takes these allegations seriously.
“Taking very seriously all the allegations that have been made,” Dujarric said.
Meanwhile, Israel continues its war in the Gaza Strip and ignores the ICJ’s temporary decision. At least 26,637 Palestinians have been killed, mostly women and children, and 65,387 others injured since October 7
The Israeli offensive has caused 85% of Gaza’s population to become refugees amid shortages of food, clean water and medicine. Meanwhile 60% of the infrastructure in the enclave was damaged or destroyed, according to the UN.
Israel estimates that 1,200 people were killed in Hamas attacks in October 2023.
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