World Health Organization head calls on donors not to cut off funding to UN agency for Palestinian refugees

The head of the UN's World Health Organization (WHO) on Sunday called on donors not to suspend financial support to the UN Agency for Palestinian refugees or UNRWA, despite allegations that some staffers of the agency were involved in the attack on Israel last Oct. 7.

Calling on donors not to cut off funds they provide to the agency, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said on X: "We appeal to donors not to suspend their funding to UNRWA at this critical moment. Cutting off funding will only hurt the people of Gaza who desperately need support.”

Several Western countries, including the US, UK, Italy, Australia, and Canada, have suspended funding for the UN agency following claims by Israel on Friday that some agency staffers were involved in the Oct. 7 attack by Palestinian group Hamas.

Other nations, such as Ireland and Norway, have welcomed an investigation into the allegations, but said they would not cut off aid.

The UN agency said it terminated contracts with several employees following the Israeli allegations.

The Israeli accusations are not the first of their kind. Since the start of the Gaza war, Israel has accused UNRWA employees of working for Hamas, in what was considered a “justification” for attacking the organization's schools and facilities in the strip, which houses tens of thousands of displaced people, according to analysts.

The accusations came just after the International Court of Justice (ICJ) on Friday found South Africa's claim that Israel is committing genocide plausible. The court issued an interim order urging Israel to stop obstructing aid deliveries into Gaza and to improve the humanitarian situation.

Flouting the ICJ ruling, Israel is continuing its onslaught on the Gaza Strip where at least 26,422 Palestinians have been killed, mostly women and children, and 65,087 others injured since Oct. 7, according to Palestinian health authorities. Israel says nearly 1,200 people were 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 was damaged or destroyed, according to the UN.