Syria condemns the Israel occupation’s violations against UNRWA

Last night, the United Nations General Assembly held at its headquarters in New York its annual conference to declare pledges to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA), with the participation of Syria and representatives of member states, and in the presence of the Secretary-General of the United Nations, Antonio Guterres, and the Commissioner-General of the Agency, Philippe Lazzarini.

Syria’s Permanent Representative, Ambassador Qusay Al-Dahhak, stressed the UNRWA’s key role in supporting the Palestinian people inside their occupied territories and in neighboring countries, including Syria.

He talked about the  challenges that UNRWA faces as a result of the genocide committed by the Israeli occupation against the Palestinian people, and its deliberate targeting of the Agency’s staff and destroying its headquarters and schools, and  its attempts to liquidate it by withholding funding from it.

Al-Dahhak also offered his condolences to the UNRWA Commissioner-General  and to the families of 195 of its workers who lost their lives as a result of the barbaric Israeli aggression on Gaza, stressing Syria’s rejection of any attempts to undermine the role of the agency in the service of the occupation’s agenda.

He condemned the blatant bias and unlimited support provided by the American administration and its allies to the occupying entity.

“Cutting fund for UNRWA by some countries comes at a time when it is most in need of support to respond to the enormous suffering in the Gaza Strip,” the diplomat said, calling on donor countries to provide the necessary funding to the agency in a rapid, flexible and sustainable manner to enable it to continue providing support to the Palestinian people in their homeland and in the host countries, including Syria.

For his part, the representative of Palestine, Riyad Mansour, said that the international community must preserve the rules that protect UNRWA and hold accountable those who violate them.

Mansour said: “ Around 10 painful and horrific months have passed in the Gaza Strip, and there is no longer a safe place in the Strip, even under the banner of the United Nations, as UNRWA schools are still being bombed by the Israeli occupation in one attack after another, which increases the losses and destruction.”

He asserted the need to put an end to this injustice, calling on the world to continue its efforts to ensure that Palestinian refugees receive the necessary humanitarian assistance, and  to end the nightmare they are living through.

UNRWA Commissioner-General, Philippe Lazzarini, warned against attempts to dismantle the agency because of its role in protecting the rights of Palestinian refugees, pointing out that failure to respond to these attempts would leave UN bodies and other international organizations vulnerable to similar attacks.

Lazzarini said: “Gaza is devastated, and more than 2 million people are trapped in hell, as they have been repeatedly displaced across a devastated area, and children and women bear this brutal war.

He noted that the Palestinians are witnessing today their biggest tragedy since 1948.

Yesterday, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres renewed the call for an “immediate humanitarian ceasefire in the Gaza Strip, stressing that there are no justifications for the collective punishment inflicted on Palestinians.

Addressing the UNRWA Pledging Conference, Guterres said, “The level of killing and destruction in the Gaza Strip is incomprehensible and now is the time to put an end to this terrible war and declare an immediate humanitarian ceasefire in Gaza.”

Guterres reiterated that UNRWA is the backbone of humanitarian operations in Gaza and there is no alternative to it, stressing that its work is one of the greatest factors that provide a glimmer of hope and a measure of stability in a troubled region.

He pointed to the martyrdom of 195 UNRWA employees during the aggression on Gaza, which constitutes the highest number of victims in the history of humanitarian relief work, calling for continuing to fund the agency and protect its staff and headquarters so that the Palestinian refugees do not lose a critical lifeline and the last hope for a better future.

Basma Qaddour