Withdrawing funds from UNRWA 'perilous': UN relief chief

UN relief chief Martin Griffiths warned Tuesday that cutting off funding to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) will have “catastrophic" consequences.

"Withdrawing funds from @UNRWA is perilous and would result in the collapse of the humanitarian system in Gaza, with far-reaching consequences in the occupied Palestinian territory and across the region," Griffiths said on X.

Some of UNRWA's staff were allegedly involved in the cross-border attack on Israel by the Palestinian group Hamas on Oct. 7.

At least 12 countries — Germany, Switzerland, Italy, Canada, Finland, Australia, the UK, the Netherlands, the US, France, Austria and Japan — have suspended funding for UNRWA, which was established in 1949 to help Palestinian refugees across the Middle East.

UNRWA said it terminated contracts with several employees following the Israeli allegations.

Griffiths said he and his colleagues from the Inter-Agency Standing Committee (IASC), a body of UN agencies and NGO invitees, appealed for the decision to be reconsidered.

The IASC said UNRWA, as "the largest humanitarian organization in Gaza," has been providing food, shelter and protection even as its own staff members were being displaced and killed.

"Decisions by various Member States to pause funds from UNRWA will have catastrophic consequences for the people of Gaza. No other entity has the capacity to deliver the scale and breadth of assistance that 2.2 million people in Gaza urgently need.

"We appeal for these decisions to be reconsidered," IASC signatories, including Griffiths, said in a statement, adding: "The world cannot abandon the people of Gaza."

Israel launched a deadly offensive on the Gaza Strip on Oct. 7, killing at least 26,751 Palestinians and injuring 65,636. Nearly 1,200 Israelis are believed to have been killed in the Hamas attack.

The Israeli offensive has left 85% of Gaza's population internally displaced amid acute shortages of food, clean water and medicine, while 60% of the enclave's infrastructure has been damaged or destroyed, according to the UN.