RIYADH: Saudi Arabia declared on Wednesday that it would pay $40 million to UNRWA, the UN organization for Palestinian refugees. Israel has been pushing for the agency’s dissolution despite severe financial cuts.
The money would help UNRWA’s “humanitarian relief efforts in the Gaza Strip,” where the conflict has raged for more than five months, according to the King Salman Humanitarian Aid and Relief Centre (KSrelief).
According to a statement from KSrelief, “the funding will provide food for more than 250,000 people and tents for 20,000 families.”
The 1949-founded UN agency has been under intense scrutiny after Israel charged almost a dozen of its staff members with being involved in the Hamas incursion on southern Israel on October 7.
Even though the UN claims that Israel has not given them any proof for the accusations, a number of nations have halted their help.
The UN has opened an independent investigation into the charges in addition to an internal one.
“It is imperative that we attend to the urgent needs of the Gaza population,” stated Abdullah al-Rabeeah, the head of KSRescue.
The donation, according to UNRWA chief Philippe Lazzarini, “reflects the solidarity that the kingdom has always shown Palestinians.”
About 30,000 individuals are employed by UNRWA in the occupied Palestinian territories, including 13,000 in Gaza, as well as in Jordan, Lebanon, and Syria, which are nearby.
Veteran of the UN and other humanitarian operations, Lazzarini stated last month that he thought Israel’s goal was to “demolish UNRWA,” which has long been at the forefront of aid and education in Gaza.
The UN and other aid organizations worry that the latest increases in humanitarian aid—which include airdrops and the opening of a sea humanitarian corridor from Cyprus—are insufficient to fulfill Gaza’s dire needs.
