Palestinians in Lebanon protest halt in funding to UN agency

BEIRUT/GENEVA — Dozens demonstrated on Tuesday outside the United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees in Beirut against several countries' decision to suspend funding for the body after Israel charged some staff participated in Hamas's October 7 sudden attack.

At least 12 key donor countries have said they will halt funding to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency following the accusations, while UNRWA has fired several employees and promised a thorough investigation into the claims.

"We are afraid for the future of UNRWA," said Palestinian refugee Abu Mohammed, 65, who attended the protest organised by Hamas in Lebanon.

"All our children study in UNRWA schools and most of our medical care is covered by the agency," he said, urging countries "to reverse their decision".

"The suspension of aid would be catastrophic from a social and humanitarian perspective," he added.

UNRWA is charged with providing humanitarian aid and protection for Palestinian refugees in Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, including east Jerusalem.

Tiny Lebanon hosts an estimated 250,000 Palestinian refugees, according to UNRWA, while almost double that number are registered for the organisation's services.

Most live in poverty.

"Even though I have a job, UNRWA helps me pay my rent and buy food," said Dima Dahouk, 40, a Palestinian and the sole breadwinner for her four children.

"My son who dreams of becoming an engineer had to temporarily drop out of school" to help support the family, she said.

“The situation is terrible,” she added, amid a four-year economic crisis in Lebanon that has plunged most of the population into poverty.

Aid groups on Tuesday condemned the countries that suspended funding to UNRWA, pointing to a “worsening humanitarian catastrophe” and “looming famine” in Gaza.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) said on Tuesday the row over funding for the UN’s Palestinian refugee agency was distracting from the humanitarian disaster in Gaza.

It urged governments to keep backing UNRWA, which has seen several key donors suspend funding over Israel’s accusations that several staff were involved in the October 7 Hamas  surprise attack.

“Criminal activity can never go unpunished,” WHO spokesman Christian Lindmeier told a media briefing in Geneva.

“But the discussion... [is] a distraction from what’s really going on every day, every hour, every minute in Gaza.”

Israel’s bombardment and ground offensive in Gaza, now in their fourth month, have left much of the besieged Palestinian territory in ruins and many of its people on the verge of starving.

“We appeal to donors not to suspend their funding to UNRWA at this very critical moment. [It] will only hurt the people of Gaza who desperately need support,” said Lindmeier.

“As important as this discussion is, let’s not forget what the real issues are on the ground.”

At least 12 countries have stopped funding UNRWA in recent days.

The agency has fired several employees over Israel’s accusations and promised to investigate the claims, which were not specified.

 ‘Border of famine’ 

Lindmeier said UNRWA ran 22 health centres before the war but only six were still operating by mid-January.

“The population is really at the border of famine... It’s getting worse by the day,” he said.

“A malnourished population is very prone to catching diseases and infections.”

Israel’s relentless retaliation following Hamas’s October 7 surprise attack has killed at least 26,751 in Gaza, most of them women and children, according to health ministry in the besieged enclave.

Lindmeier said the UNRWA row diverted the world’s attention from the Gaza death toll and a siege “preventing an entire population from access to clean water, food and shelter”.

“It’s a distraction from preventing electricity to come into Gaza,” he said.

“It’s also a distraction from the continuous shelling of an entire population, even in areas that just moments before have been designated as safe areas.

“It’s a distraction from attacking shelters, schools, hospitals.”

On Tuesday, leading NGOs condemned the halt to UNRWA funding.

“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.