UNRWA is backbone of humanitarian response in Gaza, contributes to stability in Middle East, says Foreign Ministry
Leila Nezirevic |18.06.2024 -
LONDON
Norway on Monday reiterated its support for the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA), accusing Israel of continuously attacking the organization and withholding funds from major donors.
The authorities pledged to further increase the funds to 100 million Norwegian kroner ($9.3 million) in addition to the 275 million kroner ($25.8 million) Norway contributed earlier this year.
The announcement was made during UNRWA Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini’s visit to Norway.
“UNRWA is the backbone of the humanitarian response in Gaza. The war, accusations made by Israel, continuous attacks on the organization and funds withheld by major donors have put UNRWA in an extremely difficult financial situation,” said Minister of International development Anne Beathe Kristiansen Tvinnereim in a statement.
Since Israel launched the war on Gaza on Oct. 7 last year, nearly 200 UNRWA staff members have been killed, according to Norwegian authorities.
“The organization’s staff, schools and hospitals are under daily attacks. UNRWA’s headquarters in East Jerusalem has been attacked multiple times. Furthermore, administrative impediments are placed on the organization, making it increasingly difficult for UNRWA to operate in Palestine,” the statement said.
UNRWA and other UN organizations’ ability to deliver much needed humanitarian aid, including health care and education, to people living amid war and conflict, “is fundamental in a world order based on international law,” Foreign Minister Espen Barth Eide said in the statement.
“UNRWA represents the international community’s commitment to Palestine refugees until a political solution is found. Therefore, Norway and other countries must guard and support the organization,” he added.
UNRWA was created by the UN General Assembly more than 70 years ago to assist Palestinians who were forcibly displaced from their land leading up to Israel’s creation in 1948.
The agency provides crucial support to millions of Palestinian refugees in the Gaza Strip, West Bank, Jordan, Lebanon, Syria and other areas where large numbers of registered Palestinians live.
UNRWA’s ability to carry out its mandate relies on predictable funding and is crucial on an individual level, but also to “the stability in the entire Middle East,” the statement said.
Lazzarini earlier this year accused Tel Aviv of having a “long-term political goal” of “destroying” the UN aid agency, together with the idea that Palestinians are refugees who have a right to return home one day, the Swiss newspaper Tages-Anzeiger reported.
“At the moment, we are dealing with an expanded, concentrated Israeli campaign, which is aimed at destroying UNRWA,” said Lazzarini.
Israel has faced international condemnation amid its continued brutal offensive on Gaza since an Oct. 7, 2023 attack by the Palestinian group Hamas.
More than 37,300 Palestinians have since been killed in Gaza, most of them women and children, and over 85,000 others injured, according to local health authorities.
Over eight months into the Israeli war, vast tracts of Gaza lie in ruins amid a crippling blockade of food, clean water and medicine.
Israel stands accused of genocide at the International Court of Justice, whose latest ruling ordered it to immediately halt its operation in the southern city of Rafah, where over a million Palestinians had sought refuge from the war before it was invaded on May 6.
Norway sees Palestinian Authority at risk of collapse, boosts UNRWA funding
“The Palestinian Authority, with whom we work closely, are warning us that they might be collapsing this summer,” Barth Eide told Reuters.
Tuesday 18/06/2024
A file picture shows Norwegian Foreign Minister Espen Barth Eide holding a press conference in Brussels on May 27, 2024. AFP
OSLO
The Palestinian Authority (PA) could collapse in the coming months, Norwegian Foreign Minister Espen Barth Eide said on Monday, citing a lack of funding, continuing violence and the fact that half a million Palestinians are not allowed to work in Israel.
“The Palestinian Authority, with whom we work closely, are warning us that they might be collapsing this summer,” Barth Eide told Reuters.
Norway chairs the international donor group to the Palestinians and is a backer of the PA.
Norway also said on Monday that it was increasing its funding to the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) by 100 million kroner ($9.3 million).
UNRWA, which coordinates nearly all aid to Gaza, has been in crisis since January, when Israel accused about a dozen of its 13,000 Gaza employees of involvement in the unprecedented October 7 Hamas attack that sparked the war.
That prompted several countries, including top donor the United States, to suspend funding to the agency, though many have since resumed payments.
“UNRWA is the backbone of the humanitarian response in Gaza,” Norway’s minister for international development, Anne Beathe Kristiansen Tvinnereim, said in a statement.
“The war, accusations made by Israel, continuous attacks on the organisation and funds withheld by major donors, have put UNRWA in an extremely difficult financial situation,” she said.
An independent review of UNRWA, led by former French foreign minister Catherine Colonna, found some “neutrality-related issues” but said Israel had yet to provide evidence for its main allegations.
The additional 100 million kroner comes on top of 275 million kroner Norway announced for the agency in February, according to the country’s foreign ministry, which noted that nearly 200 of the agency’s staff had been killed since the start of the war in Gaza.
The war began after Hamas’s October 7 attack on southern Israel, which resulted in the deaths of 1,194 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on Israeli official figures.
Israel’s retaliatory offensive has killed at least 37,347 people in Gaza, also mostly civilians, according to the Hamas-ruled territory’s health ministry.
Last week, G7 leaders said that UNRWA must be allowed to work unhindered in the war-torn region.
After a summit meeting in Italy last week, the Group of Seven nations called for all parties to facilitate “rapid and unimpeded passage of humanitarian relief for civilians in need” in Gaza, particularly women and children
“The Palestinian Authority, with whom we work closely, are warning us that they might be collapsing this summer,” Barth Eide told Reuters.
Tuesday 18/06/2024
A file picture shows Norwegian Foreign Minister Espen Barth Eide holding a press conference in Brussels on May 27, 2024. AFP
OSLO
The Palestinian Authority (PA) could collapse in the coming months, Norwegian Foreign Minister Espen Barth Eide said on Monday, citing a lack of funding, continuing violence and the fact that half a million Palestinians are not allowed to work in Israel.
“The Palestinian Authority, with whom we work closely, are warning us that they might be collapsing this summer,” Barth Eide told Reuters.
Norway chairs the international donor group to the Palestinians and is a backer of the PA.
Norway also said on Monday that it was increasing its funding to the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) by 100 million kroner ($9.3 million).
UNRWA, which coordinates nearly all aid to Gaza, has been in crisis since January, when Israel accused about a dozen of its 13,000 Gaza employees of involvement in the unprecedented October 7 Hamas attack that sparked the war.
That prompted several countries, including top donor the United States, to suspend funding to the agency, though many have since resumed payments.
“UNRWA is the backbone of the humanitarian response in Gaza,” Norway’s minister for international development, Anne Beathe Kristiansen Tvinnereim, said in a statement.
“The war, accusations made by Israel, continuous attacks on the organisation and funds withheld by major donors, have put UNRWA in an extremely difficult financial situation,” she said.
An independent review of UNRWA, led by former French foreign minister Catherine Colonna, found some “neutrality-related issues” but said Israel had yet to provide evidence for its main allegations.
The additional 100 million kroner comes on top of 275 million kroner Norway announced for the agency in February, according to the country’s foreign ministry, which noted that nearly 200 of the agency’s staff had been killed since the start of the war in Gaza.
The war began after Hamas’s October 7 attack on southern Israel, which resulted in the deaths of 1,194 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on Israeli official figures.
Israel’s retaliatory offensive has killed at least 37,347 people in Gaza, also mostly civilians, according to the Hamas-ruled territory’s health ministry.
Last week, G7 leaders said that UNRWA must be allowed to work unhindered in the war-torn region.
After a summit meeting in Italy last week, the Group of Seven nations called for all parties to facilitate “rapid and unimpeded passage of humanitarian relief for civilians in need” in Gaza, particularly women and children
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