UN Palestinian refugee agency says it has funds to operate until end-May
By Gabrielle Tétrault-Farber
GENEVA (Reuters) -The U.N. Palestinian refugee agency (UNRWA) has sufficient funds to run its operations until the end of May after many donors paused their funding over Israeli accusations that some staff took part in Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack, UNRWA’s head said on Tuesday.
“What I can say today is that we can run our operation until the end of May, whereas a month ago I had just the visibility for the next week or two weeks,” UNRWA Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini told Reuters in Geneva.
“But that shows also how bad the financial situation of the organisation is.”
UNRWA, which provides aid and essential services to Palestinian refugees in Gaza, the Israeli-occupied West Bank and across the region, has been in crisis since Israel accused 12 of its 13,000 staff in Gaza of involvement in the Oct. 7 attack on Israel that triggered the war in the Palestinian enclave.
The accusations prompted several countries, including the United States, to pause funding. Many countries, including Canada, Australia, Finland and Sweden, have since resumed their contributions.
“I’m hopeful that more of them will come back,” Lazzarini said of donors.
Israel has informed the U.N. that it will no longer approve UNRWA food convoys to the north of Gaza, where famine is likely to occur by May, according to a U.N.-backed report published last week. An Israeli government spokesman said on Monday Israel would stop working with UNRWA altogether in Gaza.
Lazzarini described Israel’s decision not to allow UNRWA food convoys to northern Gaza as designed to “prevent people in danger of death” from surviving.
“The plan B is to go back to plan A. It is of utmost importance that convoys have access to the north,” Lazzarini said. “We will definitely be looking at partnerships, who else can do it on our behalf. Our focus is the people in danger of death right now in the north of Gaza.”
(Reporting by Gabrielle Tétrault-Farber; Editing by Andrew Heavens)
