Doctors Without Borders 'deeply alarmed’ by funding cuts for UN agency for Palestinian refugees

By Beyza Binnur Donmez

GENEVA (AA) - Doctors Without Borders (MSF) has voiced alarm after several states suspended their funding to the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) due to Israeli allegations.

Several countries cut funding to the UN agency after Tel Aviv alleged that some of UNRWA's staff were involved in the cross-border attack on Israel by Palestinian group Hamas on Oct. 7.

MSF "is deeply alarmed by the decision of some countries to suspend their funding to UNRWA … which is a lifeline for millions of Palestinians in Gaza Strip, the West Bank and the region," the international medical care organization said in a statement on Monday.

"In the Gaza strip, the humanitarian crisis has reached catastrophic levels, and any additional limitations on aid will result in more deaths and suffering," it warned, stressing that the humanitarian organizations are already grappling to meet even a fraction of the urgent needs in Gaza.

"Much more aid is required to meet those needs, not less," the MSF said.

It argued that such funding cuts contradict the provisional measures issued by the International Court of Justice last week, which include immediate measures to ensure sufficient humanitarian aid flows into Gaza.

The organization reiterated its call for an “immediate and sustained” cease-fire, and for the lift of the siege to allow increased and continuous humanitarian supplies to cross into Gaza.

At least 12 countries — Germany, Switzerland, Italy, Canada, Finland, Australia, UK, Netherlands, US, France, Austria, and Japan — have suspended funding for UNRWA, which was established in 1949 to help Palestinian refugees across the Middle East.

UNRWA said the contracts of the accused staff members have been terminated and an investigation launched.

Israel launched a deadly offensive on the Gaza Strip following a cross-border attack by Hamas on Oct. 7, killing at least 26,637 Palestinians and injuring 65,387. Nearly 1,200 Israelis are believed to have been killed in the Hamas attack.

The Israeli offensive has left 85% of Gaza’s population internally displaced amid acute shortages of food, clean water, and medicine, while 60% of the enclave’s infrastructure has been damaged or destroyed, according to the UN.