Amman (Al-Ittihad)
Yesterday, United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres expressed his commitment to strengthening and continuing the work of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA), renewing his warning of the repercussions of any Israeli military invasion of the city of Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip.
This was stated during a press conference held by Guterres in the Al-Wahdat camp for Palestinian refugees in the Jordanian capital, Amman.
Guterres said: “UNRWA is the way to provide life for civilians in Gaza,” noting that “the agency works in very difficult conditions, and investigations into the accusations against it are continuing, and I hope that it will lead to its refinancing.”
Countries, led by the United States, have previously frozen their funding for UNRWA, in response to Israeli allegations that employees of the agency participated in the October 7 attacks.
Guterres, who is visiting Jordan from Egypt, added: “There are countries that have withdrawn from stopping their funding to UNRWA, and there are other countries awaiting the results of the investigation.”
He continued: “We are committed to strengthening UNRWA, as it is the lifeline and hope in the Gaza Strip. I am determined to continue and strengthen its work and we seek to maintain its services.”
UNRWA was established by a resolution of the United Nations General Assembly in 1949, and was mandated to provide assistance and protection to refugees in its five areas of operations, namely Jordan, Syria, Lebanon, the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. The agency provides its services to about 5.9 million refugee people, and about two-thirds of this number live in 58 recognized refugee camps in Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, the occupied West Bank and the Gaza Strip.
In this context, Guterres stressed that the only way to deliver aid to the Gaza Strip is to stop the fire.
In another context, the German Foreign Ministry said on Monday that the government's political priority is the entry of more aid into the Gaza Strip.
German Foreign Ministry spokesman Christian Wagner said during a press conference in the capital, Berlin, that “our major political priority is to have more humanitarian aid enter Gaza and make it available to the residents of the Strip.”
He stressed that “any news that gives the impression that humanitarian aid, which is naturally low, will decrease further is bad news.”
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