The UNRWA spokesperson reacts to the resumption of aid by several countries which had suspended their contributions. “ We can continue our activities until the end of April », Says Tamara Alrifaï who also mentions the mistreatment suffered by agency employees imprisoned in Israel. On the humanitarian level, Unrwa recalls that the delivery of aid to Gaza is more efficient by land than by air or sea.
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RFI: Around fifteen countries have suspended their aid to the United Nations agency responsible for supporting Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) since Israel accused some of your employees of having participated in the October 7 attacks. Without waiting for the result of the UN investigation, Canada and Sweden have just announced the resumption of their funding. And on March 1, the European Union released 50 million euros. Is this a breath of fresh air for UNRWA?
Tamara Alrifaï: These are truly very responsible decisions towards Gazans, through the largest humanitarian agency currently operational in Gaza. That said, the continued freeze by some of our largest partners (for example the United States, but also many others) continues to threaten the pursuit of our activities, particularly those that save lives such as the distribution of food or the management of the 150 shelters in which displaced populations from Gaza have found refuge. It is therefore necessary to release all the amounts still frozen.
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The report requested by the UN Secretary General on the functioning of UNRWA is expected at the end of this month. Pending the decision of the states which continue to freeze their contributions, can you continue to help Palestinian refugees in Gaza and elsewhere?
With contributions maintained and those that resume, we can continue our activities throughout the region until the end of April. We work from month to month. Each time we receive funding, we redo our calculations, because we must ensure the maintenance of 700 UNRWA schools in the region: Gaza, West Bank, Syria, Lebanon and Jordan. Half a million children attend school there. There are also 140 health centers operating for around two million Palestine refugees. All of this – as well as the humanitarian response in Gaza – can continue to operate until the end of April.
Is it correct that you have recorded the testimonies of some of your employees denouncing mistreatment during their detention in Israel?
I confirm that UNRWA has received testimonies from more than a hundred of its employees who were detained in the context of the Gaza conflict. They tell us that they underwent very bad treatment, even torture, and even sexual abuse in order to obtain confessions in which they admitted to being close to Hamas or even to having participated in the horrible attacks of October 7. We protested to the Israeli authorities about these extorted confessions which then fueled a disinformation campaign. We have not yet received a response from the Israeli authorities.
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After humanitarian aid drops on the Gaza Strip, efforts are underway to transport food and medicine by sea. What do you think when very few trucks are allowed to enter the enclave each day?
Any initiative is welcome. That said, the simplest, most direct and most economical way to deliver humanitarian aid is to do so by land. This is also what the International Court of Justice (ICJ) is asking for and this is what a UN Security Council resolution is asking for. It’s all very well to be creative and imaginative to find other ways, but the call from the humanitarian community to the State of Israel is to open the land crossing points.