AntónioGuterres on UNRWA role at the Ministerial Meeting

UN Secretary-General AntónioGuterres on 26 September said people in Gaza are “existing, not living,” and if “there is any outpost of hope in this hellscape,” it is the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA).

Addressing a Ministerial level meeting to discuss the situation of the agency, Guterres said, “attempts to evict UNRWA from its headquarters in East Jerusalem continue,” while on the political level, there are “systematic disinformation campaigns to discredit the agency’s life-long work.”

He noted that “draft legislation in the Israeli parliament seeks to label the agency a terrorist organisation and to make any activity by UNRWA on Israel territory Illegal.” The meeting emphasized UNRWA’s indispensable and irreplaceable role in the lives of Palestinian refugees, particularly in Gaza, and seeked to explore ways to bolster political and financial support for the agency.