UNRWA Commissioner-General Pierre Krähenbühl on Saturday said US President Donald Trump's decision to cut funding to his organization would only strengthen its resolve, i24News reported.
In a statement, State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert explained the administration's decision: "Beyond the budget gap itself and failure to mobilize adequate and appropriate burden sharing, the fundamental business model and fiscal practices that have marked UNRWA for years - tied to UNRWA's endlessly and exponentially expanding community of entitled beneficiaries - is simply unsustainable and has been in crisis mode for many years. The United States will no longer commit further funding to this irredeemably flawed operation."
Krähenbühl also claimed that the US decision was unrelated to UNRWA's performance and instead stemmed from the relationship between Trump and Palestinian Authority leaders.
"It appeared clearly related however to the tensions between the United States and the Palestinian leadership following the US announcement on Jerusalem and not to UNRWA’s performance. It therefore represented an evident politicization of humanitarian aid," Krähenbühl claimed.
According to him, UNRWA needs another $200 million in order to continue its operations to the end of 2018.
UNRWA is notorious for its anti-Israel activities. During the 2014 counterterrorism Operation Protective Edge, Hamas rockets were discovered inside a school building run by UNRWA.
Likewise, explosives at a booby-trapped UNRWA clinic detonated, killing three IDF soldiers. Aside from the massive amounts of explosives hidden in the walls of the clinic, it was revealed that it stood on top of dozens of terror tunnels, showing how UNRWA is closely embedded with Hamas.
More recently, the director of UNRWA operations in Gaza expressed his support for the anti-Israel marches along the Israel-Gaza border and pledged that the organization’s medical centers will provide care for "Palestinian refugees"” who might sustain injuries during them.