Israel-Gaza war: UN agency for Palestinian refugees could shut by end of February if funding does not resume

The Israeli offensive launched in the wake of the attacks, in which some 1,200 people were killed and 253 taken hostage, has displaced most of Gaza’s population, left many homes and civilian infrastructure in ruins, and caused acute shortages of food, water and medicine.

Aid groups and other UN agencies have urged donors to keep supporting UNRWA, with the head of the World Health Organization (WHO) warning on Wednesday that defunding would have “catastrophic consequences” for the people of Gaza.

Israeli authorities have long called for the agency to be dismantled, arguing that its mission is obsolete and fosters anti-Israeli sentiment, something UNRWA has vigorously denied.

On Wednesday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reiterated his call to terminate UNRWA’s mandate and to replace it with other UN or non-UN aid agencies.

As Gaza war rages, Israel accuses 190 UN staff of being ‘hardened’ militants

UNRWA, formally the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East, was established in 1949 by the UN General Assembly after the war surrounding the founding of Israel as a Jewish state, when 700,000 Palestinians fled or were driven from their homes.

It employs 30,000 Palestinians to serve the civic and humanitarian needs of 5.9 million descendants of those refugees – in the Gaza Strip, in the West Bank and in vast camps in neighbouring Arab countries.