The UN Secretary General said on Friday that there is no alternative to UNRWA as 118 countries voiced support for the Palestinian refugee agency, calling it a “pillar of regional stability”.
“My appeal to everyone is this: protect UNRWA, protect UNRWA staff and protect UNRWA’s mandate – including through funding,” Antonio Guterres told UN member states at the start of a pledging conference for the agency in New York.
“There is no alternative to UNRWA.”
UNRWA was created in 1949 by a UN General Assembly to serve Palestinian refugees in Lebanon, Jordan, Syria, the Gaza Strip, the West Bank and Jerusalem.
Israel-Gaza war – in pictures
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Palestinians move with their belongings on a road lined with destroyed buildings, in Khan Younis, in the south of the Gaza Strip, on April 22. AFP -
An infant saved from the womb of her mother Sabreen Al Sheikh, who was killed in an Israeli strike along with her husband Shokri and her daughter Malak, lies in an incubator at Al Emirati hospital in Rafah, on April 21. Reuters -
A man rides a bicycle, on April 2, past a damaged vehicle where employees from the World Central Kitchen non-profit, including foreigners, were killed in an Israeli air strike. Reuters -
A woman at the damaged Al Shifa Hospital, on April 1, after Israeli forces withdrew from the medical complex following a two-week siege. Reuters -
The view from a Jordanian flight dropping vital aid by parachute into Gaza, in March. Matthew Kynaston / The National -
Nozha Awad flees Al Shifa hospital with her triplet children, after an Israeli raid siege began at the medical complex, in March. Reuters -
Palestinians gather to receive aid outside a UNRWA warehouse, in March. Reuters -
A family end their fast amid the rubble of their destroyed home, during Ramadan in Rafah, in March. Reuters -
Wafaa Tabasi with her twin malnourished daughters, at Al Awda health centre in Rafah, in March. Reuters -
Palestinians carry bags of flour taken from an aid lorry near an Israeli checkpoint in Gaza City, in February. Reuters -
Fernando Simon Marman and Louis Hare, two Israeli hostages who, according to the Israeli military, were freed in a special forces operation in Rafah, reunite with loved ones at Sheba Medical Centre, in Ramat Gan, Israel, in February. Reuters -
Palestinian Muhammad Al Durra with his children in the ruins of a house in Rafah where they sheltered on January 11, 2024. EPA -
Family and friends at the funerals of journalists Hamza Al Dahdouh and Mustafa Thuraya on January 7, 2024 in Rafah, Gaza. Getty Images -
Palestinians mourn relatives killed by Israeli bombardment of the Gaza Strip outside a mortuary in Khan Younis January 4, 2024. AP Photo -
Displaced Palestinians queue to bake bread at a camp in the Muwasi area of Rafah, Gaza Strip, on December 23, 2023. AP Photo -
Palestinians queue for food in Rafah, the Gaza Strip, on December 20, 2023. AP Photo -
The ruins of Rafah on December 14, 2023. AFP -
Palestinians wounded in the Israeli bombardment of the Gaza Strip arrive at a hospital in Khan Younis on December 8, 2023. AP Photo -
Palestinians flee Israeli bombing along the Salaheddine Road in the Zeitoun district of Gaza city on November 28, 2023. AFP -
A Red Cross vehicle takes Israeli hostages from the Gaza Strip into Egypt in Rafah on November 25, 2023. AP -
The ruins of buildings in Gaza city on November 24, 2023, as a temporary truce between Israel and Hamas took effect. AP Photo -
A woman and her cat return home to eastern Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip during the first hours of a four-day truce between Israel and Hamas forces on November 24, 2023. AFP -
Mourning the dead of Israeli bombardment outside the mortuary at Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis on November 14, 2023. AFP -
Civilians and rescuers look for survivors in the rubble of a building after Israeli bombing of Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip on November 12, 2023. AFP -
November 7, 2023, a month to the day after Hamas attacked Israel, a victim of an Israeli bombardment in Rafah is moved from the rubble. AFP -
Searching the rubble after Israeli air strikes on the town of Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, on October 26, 2023. AP Photo -
Mourning the Kotz family at their funeral in Gan Yavne, Israel, on October 17, 2023. AP Photo -
An Israeli firefighter composes himself after he and his colleagues extinguished cars set on fire by a rocket fired from the Gaza Strip in Ashkelon, Israel, on October 9, 2023. AP Photo -
Palestinians with the wreckage of an Israeli tank at the Gaza Strip fence east of the city of Khan Younis on October 7, 2023, the day Hamas forces swept unopposed into Israel. AP Photo -
Israeli police officers evacuate a woman and a child from a site hit by a rocket fired from the Gaza Strip, in Ashkelon, southern Israel, on October 7, 2023. AP Photo
Israel, which has long called for UNRWA to be dismantled, has accused the relief agency of complicity with Hamas, saying the Palestinian militant group was embedded within its infrastructure.
The Israeli parliament is currently considering designating the UN agency as a terrorist organisation.
Several countries halted their funding to UNRWA following accusations by Israel that some of the agency's staff were involved in the October 7 Hamas attack on southern Israel, which triggered the brutal Gaza war.
Most donors have since resumed their funding, while the UN conducts an internal investigation.
Mr Guterres noted that the world body is working on “all fronts” to enact the recommendations of the report from Catherine Colonna, who was tasked with reviewing the agency and making suggestions for improvement. The report found there was a need to strengthen the agency’s work and risk management mechanisms.
“UNRWA is targeted because of its role in safeguarding the rights of Palestine refugees, and because it embodies an international commitment to a political solution,” said agency chief Philippe Lazzarini.
“The notion that the agency can be dismantled without triggering the collapse of the humanitarian response in Gaza and causing chaos in other areas of operation is naive at best.”
The international community underscored the importance of UNRWA's mandate and the need for sustained and predictable funding to ensure its continued operations.
Ahead of the pledging event, Jordan, Slovenia, and Kuwait led 118 countries, including the UAE, in committing continued support for UNRWA, calling it a "lifeline of hope" for millions of Palestinian refugees.
It also recognised the “serious humanitarian, political and security risks that would result from any interruption or suspension of its vital work”.
All 15 members of UN Security Council signed on.
France announced that, in addition to the €33 million ($36 million) already provided in 2024, it will also disburse an additional €5 million ($5.4 million) for emergency food assistance in Syria and Lebanon.
Norway’s UN ambassador Merete Brattested said her country will boost its support to UNRWA by providing an additional $9.3 million, bringing Oslo's total annual contribution to $47 million.
Britain's UN ambassador Barbara Woodward told member states the UK recognises the importance of the UNRWA mandate and the need for the agency to operate on a "sustainable financial footing".
And following last week's elections in the United Kingdom, she asserted, the new foreign secretary [David Lammy] is "closely considering" resuming funding to UNRWA.
US Congress halted additional funding for the relief organisation. The Biden's administration instead redirected funds intended for Palestinian civilians to alternative organisations, while acknowledging that UNRWA remains uniquely equipped to deliver aid.
According to the UN, in 2023, only 27 per cent of the UNRWA emergency appeal for Syria, Jordan and Lebanon was funded.
The UN emergency appeal for $1.2 billion for the Palestinians through the end of the year, along with an appeal for neighboring countries, received only 19 percent of the funding it needs, Mr Lazzarini said.
Despite facing financial and operational challenges, he told reporters as of Friday, UNRWA has "visibility to function until the end of September".
