The UN secretary general, Antonio Guterres, asked to "guarantee the continuity" of the Palestinian refugee agency, UNRWA, after many fundings were blocked by some states including Italy due to the accusations made against members of the organization to be involved in raids on Israel.
"While I understand their concerns, and I too was horrified by these accusations - Guterres said in a statement -, I strongly appeal to the governments that have suspended their funding to at least guarantee the continuity of UNRWA's operations ." All this while Israel attacks UNRWA and promises that at the end of the war the UN agency will no longer be in Gaza.
The storm that hit the UN organization for Palestinian refugees - forced to fire 12 of its employees in the Strip for suspected involvement in the October 7 massacre - is spreading more and more. After the USA, other countries - from Italy to Germany, Canada, Great Britain, Finland, Australia and the Netherlands - have also decided to freeze their funding to the agency, whose resources for its structures in Gaza have already been shaky for some time .
Decisions that the commissioner general of the UN agency Philippe Lazzarini defined as "shocking", underlining that "over 2 million people depend on UNRWA for their mere survival" in Gaza and urging countries to "reconsider their decisions".
"Israel - said Foreign Minister Israel Katz - will work to obtain bipartisan support in the US, the EU and other nations globally for a policy aimed at stopping UNRWA activities in Gaza". And, for this reason, he asked that the UN "take immediate action against the UNRWA leadership" . «For years - explained Katz - we have warned: the Agency perpetuates the issue of refugees, hinders peace and serves as the civilian arm of Hamas in Gaza. UNRWA is part of the problem." Hamas responded by calling on the United Nations "not to give in to the threats and blackmail of this rogue Nazi entity." And he then also attacked UNRWA itself for having fired the 12 employees "on the basis of information coming from the Zionist enemy" and for having described "the resistance of the Palestinian people as terrorism". "It is not the task of UNRWA - insisted Hamas - to announce political positions on the conflict" but rather "to defend the rights of the refugees it represents".
The PLO also opposed the decision to freeze UNRWA funds. «A choice - warned the general secretary Hussein al Sheikh - which entails a political risk. I invite these states to immediately withdraw the decision." However, stopping funding for UNRWA does not mean the end of aid to the Palestinians. “We are committed to humanitarian assistance to the Palestinian population, protecting the security of Israel,” explained Tajani when announcing the Italian government's decision. Last December, in fact, Italy allocated 10 million euros to help the Palestinian civilian population through other UN agencies, such as the FAO and the WFP, or through the Red Crescent.
(Unioneonline/D)
