UN chief Antonio Guterres calls UNRWA ‘backbone’ of Gaza humanitarian aid

While Antonio Guterres pleads for the urgent resumption of funding, Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu claims the Palestinian refugee agency has been ‘totally infiltrated’ by Hamas.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the United Nations Headquarters.

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has called his organisation’s Palestinian refugee agency the “backbone” of Gaza aid after several countries suspended funding over Israeli claims that 12 UNRWA staffers participated in Hamas’ October 7 attacks.

“Yesterday, I met with donors to listen to their concerns and to outline the steps we are taking to address them … UNRWA is the backbone of all humanitarian response in Gaza,” Guterres told a UN committee on Palestinian rights on Wednesday (Thursday AEDT).

Withholding UNRWA funding was “perilous and would result in the collapse of the humanitarian system in Gaza,” the heads of the UN agencies said in a joint statement Tuesday.

The dispute intensified earlier Tuesday after Israel accused UNRWA of allowing Hamas to use agency infrastructure in Gaza for military activity.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu added on Wednesday (Thursday AEDT) that the UN agency had been “totally infiltrated” by Hamas, saying “we need to get other UN agencies and other aid agencies replacing UNRWA”.

Netanyahu’s comments came as UNRWA said it was “extremely important” to conduct an independent investigation into Israeli allegations that 12 of its employees were involved in the October 7 Hamas attack.

Following these allegations important donors – among them Australia, Britain, Germany, Japan and the United States – have announced their suspension of aid to UNRWA.

“It (UNRWA) has been in the service of Hamas, in its schools and many other things,” Netanyahu said at the meeting, video footage of which was released by the government press office.

“I say this with great regret because we hoped that there would be an objective and constructive body to offer aid. We need such a body today in Gaza, but UNRWA is not that body.”

’Perilous’: Antonio Guterres. Picture: AFP

’Totally infiltrated’: Benjamin Netanyahu. Picture: POOL/AFP

Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese would not confirm on Thursday whether Australia would lift its suspension in funding to UNRWA.

“We know UNRWA plays an important role,” the Prime Minister said on ABC’s Radio National on Thursday.

“Our closest partners all fund UNRWA, including the United States, United Kingdom and Canada, and we know that as well, we take the allegations of breaches of UNRWA’s neutrality very seriously.

“UNRWA is the only United Nations body with the mandate to provide relief and services to Palestinians in the region.

“It is providing essential services in Gaza directly to those who need it, and this issue needs to be resolved.

“We’ll take considered advice.”

The UN agency has long been under scrutiny by Israel, which accuses it of systematically going against the country’s interests.

Israel has vowed to stop the agency’s work in Gaza after the war and doubled down on Tuesday when government spokesman Eylon Levy said UNRWA “has been fundamentally compromised.”

He accused it of “hiring terrorists on a massive scale, letting its infrastructure be used for Hamas military activity and relying on Hamas for aid distribution in the Gaza Strip.”

UNRWA ‘beating heart’ of Gaza aid

The UN’s humanitarian chief Martin Griffiths said the entire humanitarian system, with UNRWA at its centre, was committed to delivering aid to Gaza.

“The breadth of the humanitarian community – including UN agencies, NGOs, the Red Cross and the Red Crescent – is collaborating to ensure that aid reaches people in need to the greatest extent possible,” he told the UN Security Council.

“You will not be surprised to hear that at the beating heart of this is UNRWA. “Our humanitarian response for the occupied Palestinian territories is dependent on UNRWA being adequately funded and operational.

Palestinian men and children gather for a demonstration in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip on January 30. Picture: AFP

“Of course we would like to see decisions to withhold funds from UNRWA revoked.”

UN Gaza aid co-ordinator Sigrid Kaag said earlier Tuesday “there is no way that any organisation can replace or substitute (the) tremendous capacity … of UNRWA.”

Following the October 7 attack on Israel, which resulted in the deaths of around 1140 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official figures, its military launched a withering air, land and sea offensive.

It has killed at least 26,900 people in Gaza, most of them women and children, according to the territory’s health ministry.