News / Palestine

UNRWA warns of humanitarian collapse in Gaza

Tuesday, 05 November 2024 2:46 PM [ Last Update: Tuesday, 05 November 2024 4:13 PM ]

Israeli forces are seen inside a deserted UNRWA compound in the Gaza Strip on February 8, 2024. (Photo by AFP)

The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) has warned that halting its operations could lead to a total collapse of food and humanitarian aid distribution for Gaza.

Juliette Touma, the communications director for the United Nations Relief and Works Agency, said on Tuesday that there was no alternative for the humanitarian activities in the besieged Palestinian territory.

“The Israeli public has fallen victim to a campaign spreading false information about UNRWA,” Touma said.

“The assumption that if we close UNRWA we will eliminate the Palestinian refugee problem is a naive concept.”

Israel has officially notified the UN of its decision to cut ties with UNRWA.

In a statement on Monday, they said it canceled a cooperation agreement from 1967, which provided the legal basis for relations with the refugee agency.

Foreign Minister Israel Katz, meanwhile, repeated the allegations, which the regime had first leveled against the body in January that its employees had been involved in the October 2023 Operation Al-Aqsa Flood.

He alleged that the organization’s staff had “participated” in the operation and that many of the employees were "Hamas operatives.”

UNRWA has been rendering essential relief services across the Palestinian territories and to Palestinian refugees elsewhere for more than seven decades. The ban culminates Israel's unrelenting efforts at smothering the flow of direly needed aid supplies into the territories, including Gaza.

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