Safadi urges international support for UNRWA amidst Gaza’s humanitarian crisis

During a meeting with UNRWA Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini, Safadi underlined the agency's "indispensable" role for Palestine refugees, serving as a lifeline for more than 2 million Palestinians facing an unprecedented humanitarian crisis in Gaza, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported.

"No other body is capable of fulfilling the vital role of the UNRWA in Gaza", Safadi said, warning that cutting financial support would worsen the "plight" of Gaza's people, who are on the brink of famine due to numerous Israeli obstacles impeding their access to crucial humanitarian supplies.

The meeting also went over the challenges facing the agency and the charges brought against 12 of its staff in the Gaza Strip, with Lazzarini noting that the agency had launched an immediate investigation into the allegations and had terminated the contracts of the accused staff, according to Petra. 

Safadi and Lazzarini urged the countries that had suspended aid to the UNRWA to reconsider their decision.

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has called UNRWA the "backbone" of Gaza after several countries, including the United States, Britain, Germany and Japan, have suspended funding to the agency.

The agency's donors have suspended funding to UNRWA over Israeli accusations that several staff members were involved in the October 7 sudden attack.

The UN's coordinator for Gaza aid, Sigrid Kaag, has recently that no other agency can "replace or substitute" UNRWA, which has thousands of employees.