By Wassim Saifuldine
BEIRUT (AA) – Lebanon’s foreign minister warned Wednesday that the halt of funding to the UN Palestinian refugee agency (UNRWA) would foment extremism and violence.
"Freezing UNRWA's operations will drive generations of displaced and orphaned Palestinians in Gaza towards extremism and violence,” Abdullah Bou Habib said following his meeting with the UNRWA chief in Lebanon, Dorothee Klaus.
“This poses a threat to regional security and the security of both host and donor countries alike,” he added in statements cited by a Foreign Ministry statement.
Several countries, including the US, UK, Germany, Switzerland, Italy and Canada, have suspended funds for the agency established in 1949 to cater to Palestinian refugees across the Middle East.
The decision follows Israeli allegations that 12 of UNRWA's staff participated in the Oct. 7 Hamas attack.
The agency has announced that it is investigating these allegations.
There are an estimated 200,000 Palestinian refugees in Lebanon, distributed among 12 camps.
Israel has launched a deadly offensive in the Gaza Strip since Oct. 7, killing at least 27,708 Palestinians and injuring 67,174 others, while 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.
*Writing by Mohammad Sio