© Reuters. College students attend a category inside a college run by UNRWA at Mar Elias Palestinian refugee camp in Beirut, Lebanon February 21, 2024. REUTERS/Mohamed Azakir
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By Maya Gebeily and Emilie Madi
BEIRUT (Reuters) – The United Nations company for Palestinian refugees has no “plan B” previous March ought to donor nations that withheld funding following Israeli allegations uphold their suspensions, the pinnacle of its Lebanon workplace mentioned on Thursday.
Israel accused 12 of UNRWA’s 13,000 staff within the Gaza Strip of participating within the Hamas-led assault on Israel final yr. The claims got here after years of Israeli requires the company to be disbanded, and as Gazans face widespread starvation and solely a trickle of support into the bombarded strip.
Sixteen nations suspended funding pending an investigation by the U.N.’s oversight workplace that Lebanon chief Dorothee Klaus mentioned can be prepared in just a few weeks.
“We hope that as many donors as potential point out to the company that they’re reconsidering the funding freeze, and that funding can be restored to the company, hopefully in such a means that we do not have a money stream problem, and providers proceed uninterrupted,” she mentioned.
“We do not need a plan B.”
Already, her workplace might not be capable to finance its quarterly money distribution to 65% of Palestinian refugees in Lebanon.
“This would be the first indicator to the neighborhood that UNRWA is cash-strapped, and this may be the primary service that we won’t be able to offer in quarter one,” Klaus mentioned.
Whereas UNRWA has confronted money crunches earlier than, the collective suspension has prompted an unprecedented disaster and it will be incorrect to assume different businesses may fill the hole, she mentioned.
In Lebanon, UNRWA manages 12 camps for refugees, offering providers from healthcare and education to rubbish assortment. If funding dries up, inside a few days there can be trash filling camp streets, Klaus mentioned.
Israel’s allegations have additionally prompted a separate overview course of by UNRWA that she mentioned would look at safeguards defending its neutrality and independence.
Requested if that will contain an examination of potential affiliations to armed teams of UNRWA workers in Lebanon’s camps, Klaus mentioned she anticipated her department can be consulted.