The UN agency for Palestinian refugees has been forced to “stretch every dollar” and juggle its finances in order to continue vital work in Gaza after 18 donor countries suspended funding over allegations of links to Hamas.
The UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) is facing a shortfall of $450m from a budget of $880m as it confronts the biggest humanitarian crisis seen in the organisation’s 75-year history.
Last week, Philippe Lazzarini, the head of the agency, said UNRWA had reached a “breaking point”. Now it reports that it has been forced to pause aid deliveries to northern Gaza – where it is currently not “possible to conduct proper humanitarian operations” – amid increasing reports of famine among people in the area.
UNRWA runs schools, healthcare, social services and water sanitation, and provides food assistance for Palestinians in Gaza, the West Bank and East Jerusalem, Syria, Lebanon and Jordan. In Gaza, more than 150 UNRWA staff providing desperately needed humanitarian support have been killed since the start of the war between Israel and Hamas in October.
In January, Israel circulated a dossier alleging that 12 of the 30,000 people employed by UNRWA had taken part in the atrocities on 7 October, when about 1,200 Israelis were murdered and about 240 taken hostage.
The US, UK, EU, Germany and 15 other countries announced they were suspending funding until the outcome of an high-level investigation ordered by António Guterres, the UN secretary-general, was known. The investigation is expected to be completed in early March.
The agency’s financial situation was precarious and complicated, said Tamara Alrifai, UNRWA’s director of external affairs. It had persuaded some countries that have not suspended funding to provide advance donations, and was delaying paying some bills in order to pay staff salaries in February and March.
“It’s hand-to-mouth. For an organisation with the scope of UNRWA, this is insane,” Alrifai told the Observer. “It’s insane that we’ve survived so long without a financial safety net – most organisations of our size have financial reserves. We have to stretch every dollar.”
Most donor countries only commit funds for a year ahead, although a handful offer multi-year agreements. The UN only covered the salaries of international staff; UNRWA has to raise funds for salaries of local staff and operational costs, Alrifai said.
“Every year, we close with a minus because we never get what we asked for. That affects the quality of what we provide.”
The war in Gaza has been a major drain on resources, she said: “We’re facing unprecedented demand for services. The impact of the donors’ freeze is not only on our ability to respond to a humanitarian crisis of epic magnitude, but all our operations across the region.
“All UNRWA schools in Gaza are being used as shelters for displaced people, so kids are not going to school and that is a major concern. If we don’t get the funding back, it’s not going to be possible to bring all these kids back to school in Gaza.
“We’re extremely worried about the immediate impact of the funding freeze on our ability to feed people or manage shelters or run health services.”
Ireland, which has not joined the funding freeze, committed an extra €20m to UNRWA this month to help address the agency’s financial crisis. Seán Fleming, minister for international development, said: “Ireland has made clear that there needs to be a dramatic upscaling in the level of humanitarian aid reaching people in Gaza. Ireland is stepping up to provide €20 million to UNRWA to address the urgent needs of Palestinian refugees.”
The US is the agency’s largest donor with a $343m contribution in 2022. Germany gave $202m, the EU $114m and the UK $21m. Washington has signalled its intention to maintain the funding freeze, whereas UNRWA believes other countries may be open to ending the freeze depending on the outcome of the investigation and an internal UNRWA review of measures to ensure staff neutrality.
Israel has accused UNRWA of enabling militant activity for many years – although attempts to “discredit and delegitimise” the agency had taken a sharper turn recently, said Alfirai. Israel’s six-page dossier alleging UNRWA staff were involved in the 7 October atrocities surfaced the same time as the International Court of Justice ruled there was a plausible case for genocide charges against Israel in Gaza.
The dossier names 12 members of UNRWA staff that it claims took part in the Hamas action, and alleges there are “around 190 Hamas and PIJ [Islamic Jihad] terrorist operatives who serve as UNRWA employees”. No evidence was included in the dossier.
Alrifai said: “An organisation primarily composed of 30,000 local staff will mirror the communities it serves. We have a lot of safeguards in place but there is no zero risk in an extremely charged environment.”
Chris Gunness, who was UNRWA’s spokesperson for 11 years until 2019, said donors who had defunded the agency were “guilty of complicity” in a “slow-motion massacre” by starvation: “There are 1.2 million people on UNRWA’s food distribution lists in Gaza who are slipping into starvation right now. By defunding UNRWA, the UK and other countries are also adding to regional instability.
“UNRWA educates 550,000 children in over 700 schools, in the West Bank, Lebanon, Jordan and Syria as well as Gaza. UNRWA’s health clinics across the Middle East see 7 million patient visits a year. The agency gives food and cash to 2 million people in the most fragile communities across a region at war.
“If the UK government wants to promote regional stability as it claims, they should be increasing funding to UNRWA, not suspending it.”