Decisions to withhold funds from UN agency for Palestinians 'must be revoked': UN relief chief

By Diyar Guldogan

WASHINGTON (AA) - UN relief chief Martin Griffiths voiced support Wednesday for the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, or UNRWA, amid the agency's funding crisis sparked by allegations that some of its employees in the Gaza Strip took part in the Oct. 7 cross-border attack on Israel.

"UNRWA is playing an indispensable role in terms of distribution, warehousing, logistics and human resources, with 3,000 staff responding to the current crisis," Griffiths told a UN Security Council meeting on the situation in the Middle East, including the Palestinian question.

"Decisions to withhold funds from UNRWA must be revoked,” he said.

The agency has taken "swift action" and an investigation is underway, he added.

The agency said it terminated contracts with several employees following allegations by Israel that some of its staffers were involved in the attack.

The US, UK, France, Germany, Austria, Italy, Australia, the Netherlands, Canada, Switzerland, Finland, and Japan have suspended funding for the agency, which was established in 1949 to help Palestinian refugees across the Middle East.

"UNRWA’s lifesaving services to over three-quarters of Gaza’s residents should not be jeopardized by the alleged actions of a few individuals," Griffiths said.

He added that the agency’s support for Palestinians in need in the West Bank, as well as in Lebanon, Jordan, and Syria, "must also be safeguarded."

"To put it bluntly and simply: Our humanitarian response for the Occupied Palestinian Territory is dependent on UNRWA being adequately funded and operational," he said.

Israel launched a deadly offensive on the Palestinian enclave following an Oct. 7 Hamas attack, killing at least 26,900 victims and injuring 65,949 others, while nearly 1,200 Israelis are believed to have been killed in the Hamas attack.

The Israeli war has left 85% of Gaza’s population internally displaced amid acute shortages of food, clean water, and medicine, while more than half of the enclave’s infrastructure has been damaged or destroyed, according to the UN.