Suspending funding for UN agency for Palestinian refugees 'historic mistake': Lebanon

Lebanese Foreign Minister, Abdullah Bou Habib, on Monday termed the suspension of funding for the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) as a “historic mistake”, Anadolu Agency reports.

Bou Habib held talks in the capital, Beirut, with US Ambassador, Lisa Johnson.

“Suspending aid for UNRWA is a historic mistake that will deprive Palestinian refugees of any hope for a better life and future, and will constitute a threat to regional security and the security of host countries and donor countries alike,” he said during the meeting, as cited by a Foreign Ministry statement.

At least 12 countries – Germany, Switzerland, Italy, Canada, Finland, Australia, the UK, Netherlands, the US, France, Austria and Japan – have suspended funds for UNRWA, which was established in 1949 to cater to Palestinian refugees across the Middle East.

The move came amid Israeli claims that some of the Agency’s employees were involved in the 7 October attacks on Israel.

UNRWA said it terminated contracts with several employees following the Israeli allegations.

WATCH: MEMO correspondent reports on devastating aftermath of Gaza bombing

Israel has repeatedly equated UNRWA staff with Hamas members in efforts to discredit them, providing no proof of the claims, while lobbying hard to have UNRWA closed as it is the only UN agency to have a specific mandate to look after the basic needs of Palestinian refugees. If the agency no longer exists, argues Israel, then the refugee issue must no longer exist, and the legitimate right for Palestinian refugees to return to their land will be unnecessary. Israel has denied that right of return since the late 1940s, even though its own membership of the UN was made conditional upon Palestinian refugees being allowed to return to their homes and land.

UN Secretary-General, Antonio Guterres, has urged donor states to reconsider their decision to suspend funding for the refugee agency.

The Israeli accusations came as the International Court of Justice (ICJ) on Friday found South Africa’s claim that Israel is committing genocide plausible. The Court issued an interim order urging Israel to stop obstructing aid deliveries into Gaza and to improve the humanitarian situation.

Flouting the ICJ’s provisional rulings, Israel continues its onslaught on the Gaza Strip where at least 26,637 Palestinians have been killed, mostly women and children, and 65,387 others injured since 7 October, according to Palestinian health authorities. Israel says nearly 1,200 people have been killed in the Hamas attack.

However, since then, it has been revealed by Haaretz that helicopters and tanks of the Israeli army had, in fact, killed many of the 1,139 soldiers and civilians claimed by Israel to have been killed by the Palestinian Resistance.

The Israeli offensive has left 85 per cent of Gaza’s population internally displaced amid acute shortages of food, clean water and medicine, while 60 per cent of the enclave’s infrastructure was damaged or destroyed, according to the UN.

READ: Gaza death toll from Israel attacks surpasses 26,600