UN aid agency a ‘lifeline of hope’ for Palestine: Guterres
United Nations chief Antonio Guterres on Monday defended the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) as a “lifeline of hope and dignity” and called for a surge of aid into Gaza.
During a visit to Jordan’s Wihdat refugee camp in the capital Amman, Mr. Guterres said it would be “cruel and incomprehensible” to halt UNRWA’s vital services to Palestinian refugees across the region.
His remarks come as the agency faces a financing crisis after some key donor countries cut off funding following Israeli accusations that several UNRWA staff in Gaza were involved in the October 7 Hamas attack.
On Sunday, the chief of the UN agency, Philippe Lazzarini, said that Israel had definitively barred it from making aid deliveries into northern Gaza, where the threat of famine is highest.
‘Absolutely essential’
Mr. Guterres called the decision to block UNRWA convoys “totally unacceptable” and said “it is absolutely essential to have massive supply of humanitarian aid now, this means opening more entry points”. The agency employs some 30,000 people across the Palestinian territories, Jordan, Lebanon and Syria, providing healthcare, education and other basic services.
“We must strive to keep the oneofakind services that UNRWA provides flowing because that keeps hope flowing,” Mr. Guterres said during his visit to the camp.
“In a darkening world, UNRWA is the one ray of light for millions of people. I see that hope here. Now more than ever, we must not take away that hope.”
He also sought to “honour the 171 women and men of UNRWA who have been killed in Gaza — the largest number of deaths of UN staff in our history”.