Safadi calls on nations defunding UNRWA to 'reconsider decision'

AMMAN — Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi on Sunday affirmed that UNRWA plays a vital role in delivering relief aid to over 2 million Palestinians facing a humanitarian catastrophe due to the Israeli aggression on Gaza.

Safadi, in a phone call with the Commissioner-General of UNRWA, Philippe Lazzarini, stressed the need for continuous support by the international community to the UN Palestinian refugee relief agency, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported.

Safadi added that the international support enables UNRWA to continue its services in Gaza, where people are facing a food crisis, noting that Israel rejects the entry of humanitarian and sustainable aid into the war-ravaged territory, "which violates international and humanitarian law and the International Court of Justice's ruling".

Safadi said that UNRWA "should not be collectively punished due to allegations against 12 of its staff members out of a total of 13,000 in Gaza", according to Petra.

He said that the agency has opened an investigation into these allegations.

A number of donor countries, including Australia, Britain, Finland, Germany and Italy followed the lead of the United States in suspending additional funding to UNRWA, which came after Israel alleged that several of the UN agency’s staff members were involved in Hamas’s October 7 sudden attack.

Safadi and Lazzarini urged countries that defunded the UN agency for Palestinian refugees to reconsider their decision, underlying that UNRWA is the only relief organisation serving approximately 1 million out of 1.9 million Palestinians, who have been displaced in Gaza since the start of the aggression, Petra said. 

Lazzarini said that UNRWA has requested the United Nations Office of Internal Oversight Services, the highest investigative authority in the UN, to conduct an independent and transparent investigation into the allegations against 12 of its employees involved in the attack on October 7. He added that the contracts of these employees have already been terminated.

Both sides highlighted that any shortfall in UNRWA’s funding, which is considered as a lifeline in the strip, will immediately impact the agency’s ability to provide humanitarian services to Gaza.

 This would cause further suffering to its residents, who have received only 10 per cent of their humanitarian needs since the start of the aggression, they said.