The Israeli Parliament, known as the Knesset, adopted two bills
on Monday banning UN Palestine refugee agency UNRWA from operating in its
territory and prohibiting authorities from having any contact
with it.
“UNRWA is indispensable in delivering the urgent,
life-saving assistance that 2.2 million people in Gaza urgently
need,” UNICEF said in a statement.
“With the children of Gaza already facing one of the gravest
humanitarian crises in recent history, if fully implemented, this
decision will be deadly.”
A singular and vital role
The statement underlined that UNRWA is the only UN General
Assembly-mandated agency to provide for Palestinian
refugees.
“UNRWA runs a range of social services, with over 18,000
employees in Gaza and the West Bank, including East Jerusalem,
providing health, education and other essential services for
Palestinian refugees,” it said. “No UN agency can take
over this responsibility.”
UNRWA provides essential services and protection to more than
five million Palestinian refugees overall across the Occupied
Palestinian Territory and in Jordan, Lebanon and Syria.
UNICEF noted that it is “the backbone of the humanitarian
response in Gaza”, and that UN Secretary-General António
Guterres has said“there is no alternative
to UNRWA”.
Critical commitment
The agency's support to Palestinian civilians continues as war
grinds on in Gaza.
UNRWA said on Thursday that in Khan Younis, its teams continue to
reach thousands of displaced people with flour and essential aid.
“As the risk of famine across the Gaza Strip remains high,
UNRWA's commitment to supporting the most vulnerable is
more critical than ever,” the agency wrote on the social
media platform X.
‘The best medicine is peace'
Meanwhile, the head of the World Health Organization (WHO) Tedros Adhanom
Ghebreyesus, again underscored the need for peace in Gaza.
Writing on X, he stated that “all you get from war” are
destruction, death, displacement, disease, depravation and
famine.
“I hope our world gets back to its senses,” Tedros said. “The best medicine is
peace.”
Support for Gaza medical evacuees
This week, WHO Egypt and the United Kingdom' s Foreign,
Commonwealth and Development Office signed a £1 million
agreement (roughly $1.3 million) to respond to the health
needs of people evacuated from Gaza for treatment in the
northeast African country.
Through the partnership, WHO will support the Ministry of Health
and partners to provide quality health services for these
patients.
WHO will work to enhance the readiness of Egypt's health system
to receive the evacuees by ensuring the availability of necessary
medical equipment, medical supplies and medications, including
chemotherapy.
The agency will also enhance the capacity of healthcare providers
to manage chronic diseases and provide psychosocial support.
Thousands still waiting
WHO has previously reported that
although some 5,000 people have been evacuated for medical
treatment outside of Gaza since war erupted in October 2023, more
than 10,000 are still in need.
Egypt began receiving patients from Gaza last November and since
then, WHO has worked to support the country's efforts to meet
their health needs.
Since the crisis began, WHO in Egypt has provided more than $2
million worth of medical supplies to local hospitals, including
intensive care unit beds, mechanical heart valves, bloodlines for
dialysis machines, orthopedic surgery supplies and anaesthesia
medications.
With support from Japan, WHO Egypt has also trained around 900
health workers in various fields to provide lifesaving emergency
healthcare services.
