The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Refugees (UNRWA) warned that the colossal humanitarian needs of over 2 million people in Gaza now face the risk of deepening following the decision of 16 donor countries to stop financial support to UNRWA.
Tens of thousands of people have been forced to flee to the south due to bombardment and fighting in Khan Yunis over the last week, adding to more than 1.4 million people already crammed in the southern governorate of Rafah, stressed UNRWA in a statement. Most are living in makeshift structures, tents, or out in the open, and now also fear they might no longer receive any food or other humanitarian assistance from UNRWA, added the UN relief agency.
“Rafah has become a sea of people fleeing bombardments,” said Thomas White, Director of UNRWA Affairs in Gaza and UN Deputy Humanitarian Coordinator for the occupied Palestinian territory.
Most of those fleeing Khan Yunis have already been displaced several times, and many are forced to leave the largest UNRWA shelter in the Khan Yunis Training Centre. UNRWA staff, themselves forced to flee their homes, continue to deliver food and tents to those newly displaced around them, added UNRWA.
Across the Gaza Strip, nearly 2 million people, the vast majority of whom are women and children, depend on UNRWA for their sheer survival as the Agency manages overcrowded shelters, food assistance and primary health care, it said. “Their humanitarian conditions are getting worse as the war continues and humanitarian access remains largely restricted.”
In the north where famine is looming, UNRWA has had very little access since the war began, stressed the UN agency.
According to White: “UNRWA received reports that people in the area are grinding bird feed to make flour. We continue to coordinate with the Israeli Army to be able to go to the north, but this has been largely denied,” he said. “When our convoys are finally permitted to go to the area, people rush to the trucks to get food and often eat it on the spot,” he added.
UNRWA is the largest humanitarian organization in Gaza. Of its 13,000 staff, more than 3,000 continue working. “They are the backbone of the humanitarian aid operations,” the agency said.
“It’s difficult to imagine that Gazans will survive this crisis without UNRWA,” White said.
As the aggression in Gaza is being pursued unabated, and at the time the International Court of Justice calls for more humanitarian assistance, it is time to reinforce and not weaken UNRWA, stressed the statement.
“The Agency remains the largest aid organization in one of the most severe and complex humanitarian crises in the world,” said UNRWA Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini. “I echo the call of the UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres to resume funding to UNRWA. If the funding remains suspended, we will most likely be forced to shut down our operations by the end of February not only in Gaza but also across the region, he added.
UNRWA provides assistance to Palestine Refugees in Gaza, the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, Jordan, Lebanon and Syria.
(WAFA)
