UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Thursday urged world leaders to increase support for the UN agency for “Palestinian refugees”, UNRWA, claiming there is no alternative to the agency.
Speaking at a high-level meeting, co-organized by Jordan and Sweden, in support of UNRWA, Guterres described the situation in the Gaza Strip as "beyond imagination."
"We have failed the people of Gaza. They are in a living hell that somehow gets even worse by the day," he said, as quoted by the Turkish Anadolu news agency.
Guterres stressed that "there is no alternative to UNRWA” and urged all UN member states to "work on all fronts to intensify support for the agency’s vital mission."
The UN chief said UNRWA "is not a sustainable long-term solution to the plight of Palestine Refugees," and reiterated his demand for an immediate humanitarian ceasefire in Gaza, release of hostages and a two-state solution for Israel and the Palestinian Arabs, with Jerusalem as the capital of both states.
"But until that moment, UNRWA remains indispensable," he added, urging states to provide "full support."
UNRWA, which has long been criticized for cooperating with Hamas, has come under increased scrutiny as its workers have been found to have been directly involved in Hamas’ October 7 attack on Israel.
Israel said in January of this year that UNRWA staff participated in the October 7 Hamas attacks. It then presented a dossier showing that the UNRWA workers who participated in the Hamas massacre kidnapped a woman, handed out ammunition and actively took part in the massacre at Kibbutz Be’eri, where 97 people were murdered.
Guterres later announced the creation of a review group, headed by former French Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna, to look into the Israeli allegations.
The group released its report in April. The report found neutrality-related issues" in UNRWA but also claimed that Israel had yet to provide evidence for allegations that a significant number of its staff were members of terrorist organizations.
Last month, the UN acknowledged for the first time that employees of UNRWA may have been involved in Hamas’ October 7 massacre in Israel.
After Israel presented its evidence on the UNRWA workers’ involvement in the Hamas massacre, numerous donor states suspended or paused some $450 million in funding to the agency, though some have since resumed funding.