Turkey calls on UNRWA donors to reconsider decision on cutting funding

By Al Mayadeen English
Source: Agencies
29 Jan 2024 00:20

The ministry cautioned that a reduction in funding to the main aid provider in the Gaza Strip would heavily impact the Palestinian population.

Palestinians carry the body of a person killed in the Israeli bombardment at a building of a UNRWA vocational training center which displaced people use as a shelter in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, Wednesday, Jan. 24, 2024 (AP Photo/Ramez Habboub)

The Turkish Foreign Ministry on Sunday expressed concern about the decisions made by a dozen donors of the UN's Palestinian refugee agency, UNRWA, to suspend funding.

"We are concerned by the decisions of some countries to suspend funding … We expect the countries that have announced suspension of funding to UNRWA to reconsider their decisions," it said in a statement.

The ministry cautioned that a reduction in funding to the main aid provider in the Gaza Strip would heavily impact the Palestinian population.

"Working under very difficult conditions, UNRWA meets the vital needs of millions of Palestine refugees ... The suspension of funding to UNRWA, following allegations against a few UNRWA staff, will primarily harm the Palestinian people," it said.

UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Palestine Francesca Albanese wrote in a post on X that the suspension of UNRWA funding came the day after the ICJ's decision concluding that "Israel" is plausibly committing genocide in the Gaza Strip.

Albanese stated that the countries that suspended their funding for the UN agency "collectively punishing millions of Palestinians at the most critical time, and most likely violating their obligations under the Genocide Convention."

Iran calls on Islamic nationt to aid Gaza

Spokesperson for the Iranian Foreign Ministry Nasser Kanaani later condemned Israeli accusations leveled against UNRWA staffers, stating that these charges were part of a broader scheme of Zionist efforts aimed at stifling NGO activities in the Gaza Strip.

He further said that the accusations are intended to absolve the regime from the killing of more than 150 NGO employees.

The decision to suspend UNRWA's funding by nine Western countries is deemed regrettable, Kanaani said, while also viewing it as an endorsement of Zionist war crimes that have been substantiated at the ICJ with charges of genocide.

These countries could have opted to halt their military support for the zionist regime instead of cutting humanitarian aid, he added.