Excluding US' decision, UNRWA says all except UK, Austria, Switzerland resumed funding

By Beyza Binnur Donmez

GENEVA (AA) - Excluding the US funding decision through next March, the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) chief said on Tuesday that all countries except the UK, Austria, and Switzerland resumed funding to the agency.

"The United States has clearly indicated that they will freeze the suspension until March 2025. Because of congress prohibition, the UK has not yet taken a decision," Philippe Lazzarini told a news conference in Geneva.

He added that no decisions have been made by Austria and Switzerland as well.

"So these three countries are still suspending, all the other countries have resumed," he said.

Regarding Italy's suspension, he noted that the country has not yet contributed to the agency since the new government took office.

"With the announcement of new contributions to UNRWA, we can sustain operations until June and aim to continue operations through August," he added, clarifying that $257 million is still suspended.

- No Rafah evacuation order imposed yet

Lazzarini said no evacuation order from the city of Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip has been given by Israel yet amid a likely Israeli military offensive.

"People have not yet been asked to evacuate from Rafah but there is a sense that if there is no deal this week, this can happen at any time," he said.

He added that there is an "extraordinarily deep anxiety prevailing right now in Gaza, because the question everybody is asking is whether yes or not, there will be a military offensive."

Regarding the food situation, the commissioner-general said there is "more food" available in the markets, but added that "it doesn’t mean that the food is accessible" as there is no cash circulating and the amount of food is "far from enough" to reverse "spreading hunger and looming famine."

Lazzarini also stressed that UNRWA still has "no access" to the north, saying: "Whenever we ask for a convoy going from the south to the north, our convoys are systematically denied."

He added that whenever permission is given to deliver anywhere else in the strip, the process is "always complicated and very cumbersome."

- 182 UNRWA staff killed in Gaza

According to Lazzarini, 182 UNRWA staff members have been killed, and more than 160 premises belonging to the agency have been damaged or totally destroyed since Oct. 7.

Most of these premises were sheltering displaced people, he said, and added that more than 400 people have been killed in these premises.

Israel has waged a brutal offensive on the Palestinian enclave since a cross-border attack by Hamas on Oct. 7 last year, which Tel Aviv says killed nearly 1,200 people.

More than 34,500 Palestinians have since been killed, mostly women and children, and thousands of others injured amid mass destruction and severe shortages of necessities.

More than six months into the Israeli war, vast swathes of Gaza lay in ruins, pushing 85% of the enclave’s population into internal displacement amid a crippling blockade of food, clean water, and medicine, according to the UN.

Israel stands accused of genocide at the International Court of Justice. An interim ruling in January ordered Tel Aviv to stop genocidal acts and take measures to guarantee that humanitarian assistance is provided to civilians in Gaza.