Guterres: UNRWA Cannot Be Replaced by Another Agency in Gaza Strip

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres expressed his sound rejection of the idea of replacing UNRWA with other agencies, after a number of Western States have recently cut funding to UNRWA.

“UNRWA’s work in Gaza cannot be replaced”, AFP quoted Guterres as saying during a press conference in response to a question about the proposal by some parties to transfer funds allocated to UNRWA to other United Nations agencies, explaining that “the backbone of the distribution of United Nations humanitarian assistance in Gaza consists of 3,000 UNRWA staff dedicated to emergency responses.”

Guterres stressed that “no other organization in Gaza is able to meet the needs”, adding that “the operational cost of UNRWA is significantly lower than the cost of operating other UN agencies. Salaries paid by UNRWA, for example, constitute one third of salaries paid by UNICEF, WFP or other United Nations organizations. “

“To meet the same needs by UN agencies other than UNRWA ” the necessary resources must be doubled”, Guterres explained.

Amal Farhat