The UNRWA chief Philippe Lazzarini has asked Türkiye to mobilize other parties, namely countries in the region and Muslim states, to support the U.N. agency for Palestinian refugees in the face of funding shortages amid cuts from the main Western donors.
Lazzarini was received by President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan on Wednesday in Ankara. During his meeting with the Turkish president, the UNRWA chief also voiced the intention to launch an office for the agency in Ankara.
In a briefing meeting with journalists in Ankara, Lazzarini said he discussed Türkiye’s political support to the agency and highlighted the importance of the UNRWA’s role in the transition period.
He also said that the financial situation of the agency has been "exceptionally dramatic" following the announcement of a freeze in funds from some Western donors.
Lazzarrini said 14 countries out of 16, which initially announced a freeze of funds already in pipelines, have resumed or increased support after the agency shared with them their initial observations from the field, though the main donor, the United States and the U.K. have not yet changed their decisions.
"The gap being left behind in the United States is an important gap. Last year they represented about $400M. $180M for our core activities and the core activities are primarily our workforce, the 30,000 staff providing education, providing primary health across the region, not only in Gaza and the West Bank but also in Jordan, Syria and Lebanon," Lazzarrini said. He added that the gap must be "filled" for the activities to continue.
During his meeting with Lazzarrini, Erdoğan reportedly told senior Turkish officials to provide support to the UNRWA, a source familiar with the meeting said.
Many countries had suspended aid to the U.N. agency over Israeli allegations linking its staffers to the Oct. 7, 2023 Hamas attack.
But most of the key donors resumed aid after an independent review of the UNRWA found that Israel had not provided any evidence to back its claims.
Türkiye, a vocal critic of Israel since the start of the conflict and a staunch defender of the Palestinian cause, has delivered over 50,000 tons of humanitarian aid, including food, water, tents and clothes, to Gaza so far.
The Israeli attacks killed over 36,000 Palestinians and have left 85% of Gaza's population internally displaced amid acute shortages of food, clean water and medicine, while 60% of the enclave's infrastructure was damaged or destroyed, according to the U.N.
Last week, Israel killed at least 40 displaced Palestinians when it targeted a school housing thousands of displaced Gazans at the Nuseirat refugee camp, local authorities said.
The Israeli army, for its part, admitted hitting the UNRWA school in the Nuseirat refugee camp, claiming Hamas fighters were hiding inside.
Ismail al-Thawabta, the director of the government media office, rejected Israel's assertion that the U.N. school in Nuseirat, in central Gaza, had hidden a Hamas command post.
"The occupation uses ... false fabricated stories to justify the brutal crime it conducted against dozens of displaced people," Thawabta told Reuters.
UNRWA condemned Israel for striking a facility it said had been housing 6,000 displaced people.
Aid groups and the United Nations have also accused Israel of blocking or delaying the entry of food, water, medicines and fuel into Gaza, depriving people of lifesaving supplies.
"20,000 unaccompanied children"
Speaking on the situation of children in Gaza, the UNRWA chief said there are 60,000 students who are missing their education activities and some 20,000 children who are unaccompanied in Gaza as they may have lost both their parents.
"Gaza is unrecognizable today," he said, likening the situation on the field to "post-apocalyptic time."
He drew attention to Israel’s attacks on UNRWA staff and premises, saying that 193 staff have been killed and 170 of their premises, which were used as shelters have been targeted, resulting in damages or destruction.
"More than 20,000 children are unaccompanied," he said and added that the children are "exposed" to several dangers, including sexual attacks and being forcefully recruited by groups that may emerge.
"It is not just infrastructure that is destroyed in Gaza, but the social fabric and possibly the soul of people has been destroyed," he said of the dire situation of Gazans who are left with access to basic life needs in the midst of their city that has been brought to rubble.
For the first time, the U.N. report put Israeli forces on its blacklist of countries that violate children's rights for the killing and maiming of children and attacking schools and hospitals.
Israel's massive military operation in Gaza has led to a 155% increase in grave violations against children, especially from the use of explosive weapons in populated areas in Gaza, said the report by U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres.