Ottawa has decided to compensate for the interruption in funding to UNRWA, the UN agency responsible for protecting Palestinians, by paying an additional 40 million to other humanitarian organizations working in Gaza.
• Also read: Ottawa promises an additional $40 million in humanitarian aid to Gaza
The money goes to the World Food Program, UNICEF, the World Health Organization and the International Red Cross.
UNRWA (United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East) is the main aid donor to civilians in the Gaza Strip. Other international humanitarian organizations do not have the necessary on-site infrastructure to provide food, water and other life-saving assistance.
Ottawa knows this very well. Last fall, Global Affairs Minister Mélanie Joly praised UNRWA for its humanitarian work in Gaza, saying it was “the only organization capable of doing this.”
This disruption in funding, even temporary, will be a devastating blow to more than two million Gazans.
The United Kingdom, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Japan, France and Finland joined the United States, Australia and Canada in ending funding for UNRWA. They provided about half of his budget.
Norway, Spain, Ireland and Belgium recognize the crucial role that UNRWA plays for the people of Gaza and the Palestinians and have refused to suspend their funding.
- Listen to the Lester Durocher meeting with blogger Normand Lester from the Journal de Montréal QUB :
Amnesty International condemns the situation
Amnesty International had called on several countries, including Canada, to reverse their decision to stop funding the organization. Founded in 1949, a year after the creation of Israel and the displacement of more than 700,000 Palestinians, UNRWA provides assistance and services to them and their descendants. There are 5.9 million in the Middle East: Gaza, East Jerusalem, West Bank, Jordan, Lebanon and Syria.
For the Secretary General of Amnesty International, Agnès Callamard, “it is deeply shocking, indeed inhumane, that successive governments have taken decisions that will worsen the suffering of two million Palestinians who are already at risk of genocide and a massacre in just a few days.” “Artificial famine” is looming after the International Court of Justice ruling concluded that the survival of Palestinians in Gaza was threatened.”
She added: “The allegations regarding the involvement of UNRWA personnel in the October 7 attacks are serious and must be independently investigated; Any person against whom there is sufficient and admissible evidence must be prosecuted…”
- Listen to the Lester Durocher meeting with blogger Normand Lester from the Journal de Montréal QUB :
Twelve Hamas fighters at UNRWA
Israel claims that a dozen of the 13,000 UNRWA staff in Gaza were involved in the October 7 Hamas attack, including 10 in the raid into Israeli territory that killed 1,200 people and took about 240 others hostage.
Israel responded with a war against Hamas that has so far killed about 27,000 people in Gaza and displaced 85% of the enclave's population. Israeli attacks damaged or destroyed 60% of its infrastructure.
Almost the entire Gaza population relies on UNRWA for their basic needs, including food and water. Around a million Gazans, nearly 45% of the enclave's population, have sought refuge in schools, clinics and other UNRWA buildings.
Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu has long called on the US to withdraw its support for UNRWA. He congratulated Donald Trump on cutting the agency's funding. Biden later reintroduced it. Harper also made it in Canada in 2011, Justin Trudeau reintroduced it after his victory in 2015.
UNRWA, which has been in financial trouble for years, launched a $1.6 billion fundraising appeal last year.