Latest news with #TamaraAlRifai
The National
10-07-2025
- Politics
- The National
UNRWA review warns Palestinian aid group could collapse
A review of the operations of the struggling UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) has laid out four possibilities for its future, including closure. It comes ahead of a vote by UN member states on whether UNRWA should continue its operations. Commissioned by UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres, the review headed by former senior UN official Ian Martin concluded the discrepancy between UNRWA's mandate and its lack of financial support would mean major changes. The review was prompted by "political and financial pressures" that are preventing UNRWA from fully carrying out its mandate, its director of external relations and communications Tamara Al Rifai told The National. Four options were put forward for the agency. The first was to cut back on services, according to Reuters, which saw the document. The second was to create an executive board to advise and support UNRWA 's commissioner general in an effort to enhance accountability and secure more funding. A third option was to transfer some services to governments and the Palestinian Authority. The final scenario was closure. The UN General Assembly is set to vote on renewing UNRWA's mandate at the end of this year. Only the 193-member assembly can change it. The review of its options has been distributed to all the member states. Created in 1949, UNRWA provides aid, health care and education for millions of Palestinians in the occupied territories as well as Syria, Jordan and Lebanon. But in recent months it has lost US funding and been banned by Israel. The organisation is dealing with a deficit of about $200 million as a result of the US pausing funding last year. The deterioration of UNRWA's position has been hastened by an Israeli campaign against the agency in which it accused members of colluding with Hamas in the October 7 attacks. UNRWA launched an investigation into the claim and suspended staff suspected of involvement. Israel's Knesset then passed a vote to ban the work of the agency altogether. "While we continue to implement our mandate given to us by the General Assembly, we never do it comfortably – especially since the war in Gaza ... where Israel has made the dismantling of UNRWA one of its objectives," Ms Al Rifai said.
The National
20-03-2025
- Politics
- The National
Gaza ceasefire gains have been 'reversed', says UN official as aid worker death toll increases
Live updates: Follow the latest on Israel-Gaza Humanitarian gains made during the Gaza ceasefire have been 'reversed', a UN official told The National on Thursday, after deadly air strikes on the war-torn strip earlier this week. Israel resumed its bombing of Gaza this week, killing more than 500 people and breaking a ceasefire deal intended to eventually end the war. The truce, which began on January 19, allowed aid to enter the enclave and displaced families separated by the conflict to reunite and rebury loved ones closer to their homes. 'The gains we made during the ceasefire in supporting survivors have now been reversed,' said Tamara Al Rifai, spokeswoman for the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA). Since the first phase ended on March 1, with Israel insisting on an extension and Hamas wanting to move on to the next phase as agreed, Gaza has "been completely sealed off to food, medicine, fuel, cooking gas," she said. Israel blocked the entry of aid shipments to Gaza earlier this month, hours after the first phase of the ceasefire expired. The second phase of the deal would have enabled negotiations for Israel's withdrawal from Gaza and an end to the war. Instead, Israel has renewed its bombing campaign. The strikes have increased hunger and imposed further hardship on the territory where nearly 50,000 Palestinians have been killed and 70 per cent of buildings and roads damaged since the war began in October 2023. 'UNRWA's life-saving activities, especially food distribution and health care, continue against the resurgence of the fighting. Our staff stay and deliver to their community, while knowing the risks they face,' Ms Al Rifai said. The resumption of strikes "is a nightmare for people of Gaza and aid workers," she added. UNRWA workers account for 275 of the 280 UN staff killed over the course of the war, which began in October 2023. UNRWA's chief, Philippe Lazzarini, said on Thursday that UNRWA had lost five of its staff in Gaza since the Israeli bombardment resumed early on Tuesday. "They were teachers, doctors and nurses: serving the most vulnerable," Mr Lazzarini said on X. He said that Israeli bombardment continued from air and sea for the third day in Gaza. "We are fearing that the worst is yet to come given the ongoing ground invasion separating the north from the south," he added. "International law is clear. Civilians – including UN staff and humanitarian workers – must not be targeted," Ms Al Rifai said, calling on the international community to join the UN body in insisting on an investigation into the bombing. "Locations of UN premises, including UNRWA's shelters, are known to parties and are by international law inviolable," she said. She said UNRWA's call is clear: to "protect aid workers, and we need a full investigation and a commission of inquiry to address all violations against the inviolability of UN premises and personnel by all parties".
