UPDATE - UN agency for Palestinian refugees has funding up to end of August, says agency chief

UPDATES WITH MORE REMARKS

By Beyza Binnur Donmez

GENEVA (AA) - The head of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) on Tuesday underlined the funding gap, saying that the agency has a budget until the end of August.

Philippe Lazzarini told a press conference in Geneva that he is referring to the regular budget, which is the "backbone" of the organization that covers 30,000 staff.

"We have the cash until the end of August, and basically, we still have a shortfall of about $100-140 million to reach the end of the year," Lazzarini said.

Regarding the funding of emergency appeals, he said that the appeal on the occupied Palestinian territory is funded by 15-18%, while the appeal on Syria is about 15% funded.

"These two appeals are significantly underfunded, which prevents us, for example, from doing cash distribution or food distribution in Syria and Lebanon and in Gaza," he said.

About the recent appeal of $1.2 billion, he said that it is 15% funded and added: "We are far from the needs we were expecting to cover."

The UNRWA chief eyed the next donors' event in New York on July 12 as a chance to receive new contributions.

The agency is proportionally less funded in its regular budget than this time last year, he noted.

- 10 children in Gaza losing legs every day

An average of 10 children are losing one or both of their legs every day, Lazzarini said regarding the amputations carried out on children in Gaza.

He underlined that the figures, which come from UNICEF, do not include children who have lost their hands or arms.

Additionally, he commented on the recent report of Save the Children by saying that the "figures are quite staggering."

According to the report, about 4,000 children are missing and 17,000 are unaccompanied, while 14,000 children have been killed since Oct. 7.

On the aid delivery, the UNRWA chief stressed that deliveries are becoming "more and more complicated."

"It has been extraordinarily excruciating over the last few weeks to bring aid," Lazzarini said, noting that "far too many" trucks have been looted so they could not reach their final destination.

He added that the agency is confronting a "near total breakdown in law and order" in Gaza.

Israel has killed more than 37,600 Palestinians since the Oct. 7, 2023 cross-border incursion by Hamas. The onslaught has reduced the territory to rubble and led to conditions of famine.

Tel Aviv, flouting a UN Security Council resolution demanding an immediate cease-fire, has faced international condemnation amid its continued brutal offensive on Gaza.

More than eight months into the Israeli war, vast tracts of Gaza lay in ruins amid a crippling blockade of food, clean water, and medicine.

Israel is accused of genocide at the International Court of Justice, whose latest ruling ordered it to immediately halt its operation in the southern city of Rafah, where more than 1 million Palestinians had sought refuge from the war before it was invaded on May 6.​​​​​​​