UNRWA criticizes "Collective Punishment" against two million Palestinians in Gaza
The head of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine UNRWA has said that the decision of some Western countries to stop financial aid to the organization is equivalent to "collective punishment" that will reduce life-saving aid for two million people there Gaza.
Philippe Lazzarini wrote in a post on X, formerly Twitter on Sunday that the aid that UNRWA provides to Palestinian refugees is about to end. He went on to write: " Our humanitarian operation, which 2 million people depend on as a lifeline in Gaza, is collapsing. I am surprised that such decisions are taken at the whim of a few people when the war continues, the needs are increasing and hunger is lurking." Likewise, he said, " The Palestinians of Gaza did not need this additional collective punishment. This stains us all." UNRWA has announced that it is launching an investigation after the Zionist regime of Israel claimed that some of the organization's employees were involved in the October 7 operation of Al-Aqsa Storm against the hostile regime. The accusations made by the Zionist regime have caused no less than 10 Western countries to withdraw or temporarily suspend their financial aid to the UN organization, a move that the head of UNRWA has said is "shocking". Lazzarini said in a statement on Friday that to protect UNRWA's capacity to provide humanitarian aid, I have taken the decision to immediately terminate the contracts of these workers and initiate an investigation to determine the truth without delay," The United States announced on Friday that it is suspending funding to UNRWA because of Israel's allegations against 12 UNRWA employees . Canada and Australia followed suit and announced the suspension of similar funding to UNRWA, which is an important source of aid for the people of Gaza . The disappointing situation in Gaza Britain, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Scotland and Finland on Saturday joined the United States in halting funding to the charity . Ireland and Norway, however, expressed continued support for UNRWA, saying the organization is doing important work to help displaced Palestinians in Gaza . The former leader of the opposition in Great Britain, Jeremy Corbyn called the British decision to suspend UNRWA aid as an act of "collective punishment" against the people of Gaza .
