BEIRUT: Dozens protested on Tuesday outside the United Nations (UN) agency for Palestinian refugees in Beirut against several nations’ decision to suspend funding for the body after Israel charged some staff participated in Hamas’s October 7 attack.
At least twelve key donor nations have said they will halt funding to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency following the accusations, while UNRWA has expelled several employees and promised a thorough probe into the claims.
UNRWA is charged with providing humanitarian assistance and protection for Palestinian refugees in Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, including east Jerusalem.
Tiny Lebanon hosts about 250,000 Palestinian refugees, according to UNRWA, while almost double that number are registered for the organisation’s services.
The World Health Organization (WHO) warned the funding row was distracting from the humanitarian disaster in the Palestinian territory.
Dangerous repercussions for Palestinian refugees
Raafat al-Murra, a Hamas official in Lebanon, said the UNRWA funding crisis had dangerous repercussions for Palestinian refugees, especially in Lebanon, where they depend mainly on UNRWA in the absence of assistance from the Lebanese state.
We have called on the UN to take urgent measures and look for more financing, he said.
Nearly 5.9 million Palestinians are registered with UNRWA and can access social services, health care, microfinance and emergency assistance.
Israel’s relentless military offensive has martyred at least 26,751 people in Gaza, most of them children and women, according to the Hamas-run territory’s health ministry.
