Hamas leader condemns UNRWA cuts as defiance of ICJ ruling

The leader of the Hamas resistance movement has strongly denounced a Western pause in funding the United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees, which assists the displaced people across the Israeli-bombarded Gaza. 

Speaking on Tuesday, Hamas political bureau chief Ismail Haniyeh said the decision to cut aid to besieged and displaced Palestinians at a time when they needed it most due to Israel’s war on Gaza goes against the interim ruling by the International Court of Justice (ICJ) last week to increase humanitarian assistance significantly.

“This indicates the existence of a systematic policy by these countries to support the occupation through starvation and siege of our people instead of responding to the court’s historic decision,” Haniyeh said.

The Hamas politburo chief added that Israel is going after the UN agency because the ICJ ruling was largely based on damning figures and testimonies provided by UNRWA.

Several Western countries, not least the United States and Britain, have suspended funding the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) following unproven allegations by the Israeli regime that some of the agency’s staff were involved in Operation al-Aqsa Storm of October 7, 2023. 

Britain’s former Ambassador to Uzbekistan Graig Murray told Press TV on Monday that the defunding is a reaction to the ICJ’s ruling against Israel.

Michael Fakhri, UN special rapporteur on the right to food, over the weekend that the besieged Gaza Strip was to face “inevitable famine” due to a Western pause in funding

Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh has accused Israel of a “premeditated political attack” on UNRWA and called for the restoration of aid funds.

Defunding UNRWA ‘collective punishment’ for 2 million Gazans, says chief

The head of the Palestinian refugee agency UNRWA says cutting the “lifeline” 2 million people in Gaza depend on is a “collective punishment.”

Francesca Albanese, the UN special rapporteur for the occupied Palestinian territories, recently denounced the countries that have paused the funding. She says the decision defies the order by the International Court of Justice (ICJ) to allow humanitarian assistance to reach Gaza.

The official also said the governments cutting funds to UNRWA are most likely violating their obligations under the Genocide Convention.

Albanese highlighted the timing of the defunding, which came a day after the ICJ’s conclusion that Israel is plausibly committing genocide in Gaza.

UNRWA has said it would be unable to continue operations in Gaza and across the region beyond the end of February if funding were not resumed.

UN urges reversal of funding pause for UNRWA, warns aid for about 2mn Gazans at stake

The UN urges the countries that have paused funding for the Palestinian refugee agency, UNRWA, to reverse their decision.

Aid agencies ‘outraged’ by ‘reckless’ decision to cut UNRWA funding

Separately, international aid agencies, including Oxfam and Save the Children, noted in a statement that the Gaza population had already been facing famine due to Israeli siege and bombardment.

“We are shocked by the reckless decision to cut a lifeline for an entire population by some of the very countries that had called for aid in Gaza to be stepped up and for humanitarians to be protected while doing their job,” the coalition of 21 agencies said.

The aid agencies noted that 2 million civilians, over half of them children, rely on UNRWA aid in Gaza. “The population faces starvation, looming famine and an outbreak of disease under Israel’s continued indiscriminate bombardment and deliberate deprivation of aid in Gaza,” they said.

“If the funding suspensions are not reversed we may see a complete collapse of the already restricted humanitarian response in Gaza,” they added, pointing out that the aid cuts came directly after the International Court of Justice (ICJ) ordered Israel to provide immediate humanitarian assistance to Gaza.

Iran condemns Israel’s 'malicious' move against UNRWA staff in Gaza

The United States has announced halting funding to UNRWA because of the Israeli allegations against the agency’s 12 employees.

The US-Israeli genocidal war on Gaza is now in its 116th day. The Israeli regime has struck residential buildings across the Gaza Strip, killing more than 200 people in 24 hours.

The overall death toll now stands at more than 26,700.

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