The United Nations agency that deals with Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) risks having to close at the end of the month if the suspension of international funding continues. UNRWA spokeswoman Juliette Touma said this, warning that the lack of funding could lead to the interruption of the Agency's operations throughout the Middle East, not just in Gaza.
Today a new thrust came from Israeli Defense Minister, Yoav Gallant. L'UNRWA is “Hamas with a facelift” and has “lost its legitimacy to exist in its current form” Gallant said while meeting with an ambassadorial delegation led by Gilad Erdan, Israel's envoy to the United Nations. “Funds from countries around the world have been channeled through UNRWA and used to strengthen terrorist infrastructure and to pay terrorists,” the Defense Minister said, quoted by the Times of Israel.
The head of the United Nations Antonio Guterres yesterday launched an appeal to ensure the future of UNRWA, calling it “the backbone of the entire humanitarian response in Gaza”.
“It is important to continue to support UNRWA”, said the EU High Representative today, Josep Borrell, on the sidelines of the summit in Brussels. “The investigation”, after Israel's accusations on the alleged collaboration of UN agency employees with Hamas in the October 7 attacks, “must be done, but we cannot collectively punish the Palestinian people”, underlined Borrell. The agency “cannot stop working, otherwise hundreds of thousands of people will die,” she said.
The Forza Italia group leader in the European Parliament, Fulvio Martusciello, invited Borrell to be “more cautious”. “The continuation of funding” from the EU “to UNRWA is a mistake” according to Martusciello. “The European Parliament wants to know the degree of connivance between the UN Agency for aid to Palestinian refugees and Hamas terrorists,” he said. “We believe – he added – that what has emerged about UNRWA's involvement in the brutal murders of 7 October is only the tip of the iceberg. Already in 2014 the FI group presented questions to ascertain whether the funding destined for Gaza was fueling terrorism” . “We can't pretend nothing happened. Let's block the funding, investigate and then possibly start again. It's European citizens' money. Josep Borrell – concluded Martusciello – should be more cautious in his improvident declarations”.
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