UNITED NATIONS: United Nations Secretary-Basic Antonio Guterres referred to as his organisation’s Palestinian refugee company the “spine” of Gaza support on Wednesday (Jan 31) after a number of international locations suspended funding over Israeli claims that 12 UNRWA staffers participated within the Oct 7 assaults.
“Yesterday, I met with donors to take heed to their considerations and to stipulate the steps we’re taking to deal with them … UNRWA is the spine of all humanitarian response in Gaza,” Guterres informed a UN committee on Palestinian rights.
Withholding UNRWA funding was “perilous and would consequence within the collapse of the humanitarian system in Gaza”, the heads of the UN companies stated in a joint assertion on Tuesday.
The dispute intensified earlier on Tuesday after Israel accused UNRWA of permitting Hamas to make use of company infrastructure in Gaza for army exercise.
UNRWA stated it had acted promptly over allegations by Israel that 12 of its employees had been concerned within the Hamas assaults. Washington, Britain, Germany and Japan are among the many international locations which have suspended funds in mild of these disclosures.
The UN company has lengthy been underneath scrutiny by Israel, which accuses it of systematically going in opposition to the nation’s pursuits.
Israel has vowed to cease the company’s work in Gaza after the warfare and doubled down on Tuesday when authorities spokesman Eylon Levy stated that UNRWA “has been essentially compromised”.
He accused it of “hiring terrorists on a large scale, letting its infrastructure be used for Hamas army exercise and counting on Hamas for support distribution within the Gaza Strip”.
UN Gaza support coordinator Sigrid Kaag stated earlier on Tuesday that “there isn’t a means that any organisation can substitute or substitute (the) super capability … of UNRWA”.
Following the Oct 7 assault on Israel, which resulted within the deaths of round 1,140 folks, principally civilians, in response to an AFP tally based mostly on official figures, its army launched a withering air, land and sea offensive.
It has killed no less than 26,900 folks in Gaza, most of them ladies and youngsters, in response to the territory’s well being ministry.
