UN chief says no alternative to UN Palestinian refugee agency UNRWA

United Nations chief Antonio Guterres declared on Friday that there is no alternative to the UN Palestinian refugee agency UNRWA and 118 countries backed the relief organization as indispensable, amid stepped up efforts by Israel to dismantle it.

The UN Relief and Works Agency provides education, health and aid to millions of Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, the West Bank, Jordan, Syria and Lebanon. Since war erupted nine months ago between Israel and Palestinian militant group Hamas in Gaza, UN officials have stressed UNRWA is the backbone of aid operations.

"My appeal to everyone is this: Protect UNRWA, protect UNRWA staff, and protect UNRWA's mandate - including through funding," Guterres told an UNRWA pledging conference in New York on Friday. "Let me be clear: there is no alternative to UNRWA."

Israel has long worked to undermine the organisation, with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu calling for it to be dismantled  and Israel's parliament currently considering designating UNRWA as a terrorist organization.

Several countries halted their funding to UNRWA following unproven accusations by Israel that some of the agency's staff were involved in the October 7 Hamas attack on Israel that began the Gaza war. Most donors have since resumed their funding, while the UN is conducting an internal investigation.

UNRWA has been hit hard during the conflict in Gaza - 195 staff have been killed.

"UNRWA is also being targeted in other ways," Guterres said. "Staff have been the subject of increasingly violent protests and virulent misinformation and disinformation campaigns."

"Some have been detained by Israeli security forces, and subsequently reported mistreatment and even torture," he said, adding that in the West Bank the presence and movements of UNRWA staff have also been severely restricted by Israel.

Israel accuses UNRWA of complicity with Hamas, claiming the group was embedded within the UN agency's infrastructure.

UNRWA was created by the UN General Assembly in 1949 following the expulsion of hundreds of thousands of Palestinian refugees during the creation of Israel.

Jordan's UN Ambassador Mahmoud Daifallah Hmoud said on Friday ahead of the pledging event that 118 countries had signed on to a joint statement supporting UNRWA and its work.

The statement underlined "that UNRWA is the backbone of all humanitarian response in Gaza, and recognizing that no organization can replace or substitute UNRWA's capacity."

(Reuters and The New Arab Staff)