The United Nations humanitarian chief warned of catastrophe if countries don’t resume funding for the main relief agency in the Gaza Strip, after assistance was paused over Israeli allegations that some of its employees took part in the October 7 attack by Hamas, according to Bloomberg.
Aid for Gaza depends entirely on adequate funding for the UN Relief and Works Agency, Martin Griffiths, the head of humanitarian affairs and emergency relief, told the Security Council on Wednesday. He said UNRWA’s “lifesaving services to over three-quarters of Gaza’s residents should not be jeopardized by the alleged actions of a few individuals.”
The US, the European Union and at least 15 other countries suspended funding for UNRWA after Israel alleged 13 of its employees took part in the attacks that set off the war in Gaza. Multiple UNRWA employees have since been fired and the UN opened an investigation into the allegations.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken, who met the UN’s senior humanitarian and reconstruction coordinator for Gaza Sigrid Kaag in Washington on Wednesday, said the US supported the UN’s “vital” work in Gaza and said it was important to ensure more aid got into the coastal enclave, including in the north.
“At the same time, we have to work through the terrible allegations that were raised with regard to some UNRWA personnel — that’s absolutely essential, and we’ll be looking to see that the necessary work is done to deal with that,” he said.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in meeting with UN ambassadors Wednesday that UNRWA has been “totally infiltrated” by Hamas and needs to be replaced by an “objective and constructive” agency.
UNRWA is the main agency responsible for the humanitarian response in Gaza amid Israel’s military offensive to wipe out Hamas, which has destroyed large portions of the strip and killed more than 26,000 people, according to the Hamas-controlled health ministry.
Separately on Wednesday, the UN estimated that the war has displaced nearly 85% of Gaza’s population, halting economic activities, further worsening poverty and leading to an almost 25% decline in gross domestic product last year. Four in five Gaza workers are currently unemployed and nearly all residents now live in poverty, it said in a report.
UNRWA, which serves some 2 million people in the region, estimates it would be forced to suspend operations by the end of February if funding isn’t restored. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres met with nearly 40 donors on Tuesday in an effort to avoid that outcome.
“There’s really no plan B,” UN spokesperson Stephane Dujarric told reporters Tuesday. “So this is why it is so important for us — and this is exactly what we’re doing — to engage with donors to answer all their questions, to answer their concerns, to express to them that we share those concerns.”
“While we’re addressing these concerns very actively and very proactively, the humanitarian work of the organization needs to go on,” he said.
On Tuesday, State Department spokesman Matthew Miller downplayed the impact of the halt in US funding, saying it only temporarily froze about $300,000 compared to around $121 million that the US has provided to the agency this year. He said it was key that UNRWA complete the investigation and ensure that something similar can’t happen again.
“There’s no reason that the United Nations can’t do this investigation quickly,” Miller said in the department’s daily briefing. “In fact, because of the important work that UNRWA does, it’s important that they do carry out this investigation quickly.”