- Funds to UNRWA have been temporarily halted by the US, Britain, and Italy.
- EU foreign policy Chief Josep Borrell argues that funding UNRWA would be disproportionate and dangerous.
- Funds paused by other donors totaled over $440 million.
On Sunday, the European Union’s top diplomat issued a warning, stating that cutting funds to UNRWA would put hundreds of thousands of lives at risk. This comes amid allegations that some staff members of the UN Palestinian refugee agency were involved in the Oct. 7 Hamas attacks on Israel.
Several countries, including the United States, Britain, and Italy, have temporarily halted funding to the aid agency. The agency, which has initiated an investigation into several of its thousands of employees and severed ties with those individuals, stated on Thursday that its entire operations in the Middle East, not just in Gaza, are likely to be forced to shut down by the end of February if funding remains suspended.
“Defunding UNRWA would be both disproportionate and dangerous,” EU foreign policy Chief Josep Borrell wrote in a blog post.
“The wrongdoing of individuals should never lead to the collective punishment of an entire population,” he said.
European Commission:
Borrell clarified that neither the European Commission nor the EU’s two largest economies, Germany or France, had chosen to terminate their contributions. He noted that funds paused by other donors totaled more than $440 million, nearly half of the agency’s expected income this year.
In 2022, the EU ranked as the third-largest donor to UNRWA, following the United States and Germany.
“The lives of hundreds of thousands of Palestinians, not only in Gaza, are at stake,” Borrell said.
Established in 1949 following the war surrounding the founding of Israel, UNRWA has employed 30,000 Palestinians to address the civic and humanitarian needs of 5.9 million descendants of those refugees. These descendants reside in the Gaza Strip, the West Bank, and vast camps in neighboring Arab countries.
“I am confident that the UN will take all the necessary measures following the Israeli allegations, and UNRWA will continue to be a vital lifeline for millions of Palestinian people,” added Borrell.
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