The heads of United Nations humanitarian agencies announced in a joint statement on Wednesday that cutting off funding for the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) would have “catastrophic consequences” for Gaza.
A statement issued by the United Nations Inter-Agency Standing Committee, which includes the main partners concerned with humanitarian affairs inside and outside the organization, said: “Withdrawing funding from UNRWA is dangerous and may lead to the collapse of the humanitarian system in Gaza, with far-reaching humanitarian and human rights consequences in the occupied Palestinian territories and in All over the region.”
The United Nations Special Rapporteur on the right to food, Michael Fakhri, had warned of the continued suspension of funding for the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA), considering that famine had become inevitable in Gaza, after some countries stopped funding allocated to the agency.
The countries that suspended their funding to the agency are the United States, Canada, Australia, Italy, Britain, Finland, Germany, the Netherlands, France, Switzerland, Japan, and Austria.
________