The UN agency for Palestine refugees (UNRWA) said on Thursday that it will likely be forced to close its operations in the Middle East, including Gaza, by the end of February if funding is not restored, Reuters and Agerpres reported.

UNRWA Palestinian refugee camp in GazaPhoto: APAImages / Shutterstock Editorial / Profimedia

A number of countries, including the United States, Germany and Britain, have cut funding to the aid agency after allegations that some UNRWA staff were involved in Hamas attacks in southern Israel on 7 October.

“The agency remains the largest relief organization in one of the world’s most serious and complex humanitarian crises,” UNRWA Commissioner-General Philip Lazzarini said in a statement.

“If funding remains suspended, we will most likely be forced to close our operations by the end of February, not only in Gaza, but throughout the region,” he added.

The Israeli offensive, launched after attacks that killed an estimated 1,200 people and took 253 hostages, displaced most of Gaza’s population, left many homes and civilian infrastructure in ruins, and caused acute shortages of food, water and medicine.

Aid groups and other UN agencies have urged donors to continue supporting UNRWA, and the head of the World Health Organization (WHO) warned on Wednesday that ending funding would have “catastrophic consequences” for Gazans.

Israeli authorities have long called for the agency to be disbanded, arguing that its mission has outgrown and is fueling anti-Israel sentiment, a charge UNRWA strongly denies.

On Wednesday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reiterated his call to end UNRWA’s mandate and replace it with other UN or non-UN organizations.

UNRWA, officially the United Nations Middle East Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East, was established in 1949 by the United Nations General Assembly after the war to establish Israel as a Jewish state, when 700,000 Palestinians fled or were driven from their homes. .

It employs 30,000 Palestinians to meet the social and humanitarian needs of the 5.9 million descendants of those refugees in Gaza, the West Bank and large camps in neighboring Arab countries.

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