(United Nations) The UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) has reached a “breaking point”, its boss Philippe Lazzarini warned on Thursday in a letter to the president of the UN General Assembly .
“It is with deep regret that I must inform you today that the Agency has reached a breaking point, with Israel’s repeated calls for its dismantling and the freezing of donor funding in the face of urgent humanitarian needs. Gaza without precedent,” he said in this letter published on X (formerly Twitter).
“The Agency’s ability to fulfill its mandate given by General Assembly Resolution 302 is now under serious threat,” he added.
UNRWA, created by this resolution adopted in 1949, employs some 30,000 people in the occupied Palestinian territories, Lebanon, Jordan and Syria, where it notably manages schools and hospitals.
The agency has been at the center of controversy since Israel accused 12 of them of involvement in the October 7 attack by the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas that resulted in the deaths of 1,160 people, mostly civilians. , according to an AFP count.
The UN immediately separated itself from the accused employees and an internal investigation was launched. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres also entrusted an independent group chaired by former French Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna with a mission to assess UNRWA and its “neutrality”.
But even if “until now, no evidence has been shared by Israel with UNRWA”, 16 countries have suspended their funding, for a total of 450 million dollars, specified Philippe Lazzarini, warning that the operations of agency across the region “are going to be seriously compromised from March onwards”.
“I fear that we are on the brink of a monumental catastrophe with serious implications for peace, security and human rights in the region.”
The war in Gaza has left nearly 29,500 dead according to the Hamas Ministry of Health, which runs this Palestinian territory relentlessly shelled and completely besieged by Israel.
Top UN officials keep repeating that UNRWA is not replaceable in Gaza, where it is the backbone of humanitarian aid.
While “for decades”, this mainly humanitarian agency “filled the void created by the absence of peace or even a peace process”, Philippe Lazzarini called for “political support” from the UN General Assembly to allow the survival of UNRWA and a “transition towards a long-awaited political solution”, as well as a reform of its method of financing, based mainly on voluntary contributions.
In this context, the objective of the independent group’s “delicate” mission is to allow donors to “regain confidence”, Catherine Colonna indicated at a press conference on Thursday.
“My goal is to submit a rigorous report, based on evidence and which will help UNRWA fulfill its mandate,” she insisted, specifying that she planned to “make recommendations” in the final report, expected by April 20.