UNRWA is the largest permanent aid agency in Gaza and is financed almost exclusively by voluntary contributions.
Now more and more countries, including Swedish Sida, choose to withdraw aid to the organization. A devastating development, says Jan Egeland, leader of the Norwegian Refugee Council and former head of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Aid.
– The point of humanitarian aid work is to help civilians. The individual who makes a mistake must be punished and the organization’s routines must be reviewed, but you must not destroy the aid workers in general, he says in SVT’s Aktuellt.
Designated have been dismissed
He points out that UNRWA has chosen to dismiss all the employees who have been singled out as participating in the Hamas attack on 7 October.
– No one can guarantee that you will not be let down by your own employees. Then it is important that management intervenes immediately, and UNRWA’s management has done so.
Questioning numbers about Hamas
He also disputes the figures provided by Israel that hundreds, perhaps over 1,000, of its employees may be members of Hamas.
– I don’t believe that at all, actually. If there are two sources I don’t believe right now, it’s the Netanyahu government (…) and the militant Palestinian organizations led by Hamas.
Hope for a truce
Now he hopes that both the West and the Arab world can put pressure on Israel and Hamas to enter into ceasefire negotiations.
– I think there is hope for this now. For one thing, I think Israel sees that they cannot bomb their way to safety, they kill so many more children and women than Hamas members. Hamas also sees the damage it has inflicted on its population.