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World Affairs
Mahesh

30/01/24 09:17 AM IST

United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA)

In News
  • The US and eight other Western countries, which together provided more than half of UNRWA’s 2022 budget, have decided to pause funding for the agency.
  • The development could have severe implications for Palestinians in Gaza.
UNRWA
  • UNRWA stands for UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees in the Near East.
  • It was founded in 1949 to provide aid to about 700,000 Palestinians who were forced to leave their homes in what is now Israel during the 1948 Arab-Israeli war.
  • The UN agency operates in Gaza and the Israeli-occupied West Bank, as well as Lebanon, Syria, and Jordan — countries where the refugees took shelter after their expulsion.
  • According to UNRWA’s website, it runs education, health, relief and social services, microfinance and emergency assistance programmes inside and outside refugee camps based in the aforementioned areas.
  • Currently, around 5.9 million Palestine refugees — most of them are descendants of original refugees — access the agency’s services.
  • In Gaza, where some 85% of the enclave’s 2.3 million people have fled their homes after the latest Israel-Hamas conflict, over 1 million are sheltering in UNRWA schools and other facilities.
  • UNRWA is funded almost entirely by voluntary contributions by donor states like the US. It also gets a limited subsidy from the UN, which is used only for administrative costs.
Claims by Israel
  • Israel has alleged that 12 staff members of UNRWA were involved in the October 7 attack. It has also claimed that Hamas siphons off funds given to UNRWA and fights from in and around the agency’s facilities.
  • Israel has alleged that “Hamas tunnels (are) running next to or under UNRWA facilities and accuses the agency of teaching hatred of Israel in its schools.
Implications
  • UNRWA is crucial for the survival of people living in Gaza, which has plunged into a humanitarian crisis after the outbreak of the conflict.
  • The agency has been the main supplier of food, water and shelter to civilians of the enclave.
  • UNRWA, however, would run out of money needed for its aid work within weeks if the funding isn’t restored.
Source- Indian Express

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