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full screen Large parts of the population of Gaza have had to flee because of the war. Photo from Monday. Photo: Fatima Shbair/AP/TT
The effects in the Gaza Strip will be catastrophic if the UN refugee agency Unrwa is forced to close due to suspended aid, according to Shaina Low of the Norwegian aid organization Flyktninghjelpen (NRC).
– It would be impossible for the humanitarian sector to fill that void in a month.
Israel’s accusations that employees of the UN agency UNRWA were involved in the Hamas terrorist attack on October 7 have led to many important donor countries, including Sweden, pausing payments to UNRWA. If they are not resumed, the body could be forced to close its operations at the end of February, warns the head Philippe Lazzarini.
The humanitarian situation in Gaza is already very difficult. And it will get even worse if Unrwa is no longer active there, according to Shaina Low, who works with communications at NRC.
– Losing UNRWA, and the services they provide, would lead to a complete collapse of the humanitarian situation in Gaza, she says.
– People are already struggling. Many people go whole days without eating. So losing Unrwa would be . . . a disaster upon a disaster.
Worked 70 years in Gaza
Unrwa differs from other actors that contribute with humanitarian aid in Gaza, among other things by the size of the operation. Around a million of the people who have been forced to leave their homes in Gaza live in or around places where UNRWA is active, according to Low.
– They have a large, large, large amount of human resources. And of course they have experience after working for 70 years in Gaza, she says.
Unrwa has also helped the NRC with, among other things, reaching out with support to places where intense fighting is going on, such as Khan Yunis.
“Unreasonably punishing people”
According to Israel’s accusations, twelve UNRWA employees took part in the terrorist attacks on Israel when Hamas and other Palestinian militias killed more than 1,100 people and took over 200 hostages.
Shaina Low thinks that the body handled the information that came to light in a good way, by dismissing the people “accused of having committed these terrible acts”, and launching an investigation. But she does not think that the effects of the paused payments are justified.
– Punishing not only one organization, but also the millions of people who depend on their support, especially when there is a crisis in Gaza, is unreasonable.
Unrwa also has operations in the West Bank, in Syria, Lebanon and Jordan.
FACTS agency Unrwa
The UN agency UNRWA, the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees, was founded after the war that broke out in connection with the creation of Israel in 1948, with the aim of helping the more than 750,000 Palestinians who were forced to flee.
Today, UNRWA helps around 5.9 million Palestinian refugees. Close to 90 percent of donations come from UN member countries. The USA, Germany, the EU, Sweden and Norway have given the greatest support.
Over half of Unrwa’s budget goes to school education. Around 15 percent goes to health promotion measures, according to figures from 2020.
The UN agency has around 30,000 employees, of which 13,000 are in Gaza. A majority are locally employed Palestinians.
Source: Unrwa, The New York Times and others
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