The World Health Organization called on donors not to suspend financial support for the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA), while the latter warned that some countries’ suspension of funding for it would lead to the cessation of all their humanitarian activities to support the Palestinians within a few weeks.
The Director-General of the World Health Organization, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, called on donors not to suspend financial support for the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA).
Ghebreyesus said, on Sunday, in a blog post published on his account on the X platform: “We appeal to donors not to suspend their funding (UNRWA) at this critical moment.”
He stressed that "cutting funding will only harm the population of the Gaza Strip, which is suffering severely and is in dire need of support."
For his part, the Commissioner-General of UNRWA, Philippe Lazzarini, expressed his "regret at taking the decisions to suspend funding, in light of the current humanitarian crisis that the Palestinians are suffering in Gaza, and its repercussions on the regularity of the agency's tasks during the coming period."
Lazzarini warned, in a statement, that some countries' suspension of their funding to the UN agency would lead to the cessation of all its humanitarian activities to support the Palestinians within a few weeks.
He added: "We depend on the support of our partners so that we can maintain our humanitarian response to two million people in the Gaza Strip and Palestinian refugees in the region."
He stressed that UNRWA feels "shocked" about the accusations leveled against 12 of its employees in Gaza.
He stressed that "many people are suffering from hunger as Gaza approaches looming famine, and that the agency runs shelters for more than a million people and provides food and primary health care even at the height of hostilities."
Lazzarini explained: “It would be highly irresponsible to impose sanctions on an agency that serves an entire community due to allegations of criminal acts committed against some individuals, especially in a time of war, displacement and political crises in the region.”
He also urged countries that suspended their funding to "reconsider their decisions before UNRWA is forced to suspend its humanitarian response."
The UN official concluded his speech by saying: "The lives of people in Gaza depend on this support, as well as regional stability."
Since Friday, 10 countries have “temporarily” suspended funding for the UN agency, following Israeli allegations that 12 UNRWA employees participated in the Hamas attack on October 7.
These countries are the United States, Canada, Australia, Italy, Britain, Finland, Germany, the Netherlands, France, and Switzerland.
Other countries, such as Ireland and Norway, welcomed an investigation into the allegations, but said they “will not cut aid.”
The Israeli accusations affected 12 employees out of more than 30,000 male and female employees, most of whom are Palestinian refugees themselves working for UNRWA, in addition to a small number of international employees.
These accusations are not the first of their kind. Since the beginning of the war on Gaza, Israel has accused UNRWA employees of working for Hamas, in what was considered a “prior justification” for attacking the organization’s schools and facilities in the Gaza Strip, which shelters tens of thousands of displaced people, most of whom are children and women, according to observers. .
UNRWA said on Friday that it had opened an investigation into allegations of the involvement of a number (without specifying) of its employees in the attacks of last October 7.
The Western announcements came hours after the International Court of Justice in The Hague announced its rejection of Israel's demands to drop the "genocide" lawsuit in Gaza brought against it by South Africa and temporarily ruled to oblige Tel Aviv "to take measures to stop the genocide and bring in humanitarian aid."
Iran denies its connection to the attack on an American base and Centcom announces that 34 soldiers were injured
Casualties among American forces as a result of the drone attack on a military base in Jordan rose to 34, in addition to the killing of 3 American soldiers, according to the US Central Command, while Iran denied its connection to the attack in response to the accusations of British Foreign Secretary David Cameron.
The US Central Command (Centcom) announced on Monday that the number of casualties among US forces following a drone attack on a military base in Jordan had risen to 34.
She added in a statement that the number of wounded had increased from 25 to at least 34, and that 8 of them had to be transferred outside Jordan to receive a higher level of care.
Central Command reported that 3 American soldiers were killed as a result of a unilateral drone attack on a base in northeastern Jordan, near the Syrian border.
She indicated that the number of casualties may change as other individuals at the base continue to be evaluated.
The Central Command statement said that the attack occurred on the logistical support base at Tower 22 of the Jordanian defense network near the border with Syria, noting that about 350 infantry and air force soldiers are at the base performing support tasks.
British denunciation
For his part, British Foreign Secretary David Cameron condemned on Sunday evening the attack on American forces on the Syrian-Jordanian border, and urged Iran to "stop the escalation."
Cameron said in a post on the X platform: “We strongly condemn the attacks launched by militias allied with Iran against American forces, and we continue to urge Iran to stop the escalation in the region.”
British Defense Secretary Grant Shapps also said in a post: “We strongly condemn the attacks launched by Iranian-allied militias against American forces.”
Iranian denial
For its part, Iran denied Monday its involvement in the attack, in response to David Cameron's statement in which he called on Tehran to "stop escalation" in the region.
Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Nasser Kanaani said, “These accusations have a political purpose and aim to overturn the facts in the region,” according to what was reported by the official Iranian News Agency (IRNA).
Iran's representation at the United Nations also announced that its country had nothing to do with the attack on the American base in Jordan on the border with Syria.
The representative office said in a statement on Monday: “Iran has nothing to do with this attack. The conflict is mutual revenge between American forces and resistance forces in the region,” according to the official Iranian news agency.
On Sunday, US President Joe Biden pledged to respond after the killing of the soldiers, blaming “pro-Iran factions” responsible.
Biden said in a statement: “Last night, three US military personnel were killed, and others were injured, in a drone attack on our forces stationed in northeastern Jordan.”
On January 4, the base was previously attacked by two drones of unknown origin, which American forces were able to shoot down before they reached the base.
The attack on American forces in Jordan is the first of its kind to result in American deaths since the start of the Israeli war on Gaza on October 7, 2023.
A group called the "Iraqi Islamic Resistance" claimed in a statement that its fighters "attacked, using drones, four enemy bases, three of which are in Syria, namely the Al-Shaddadi base, the Rukban base, and the Al-Tanf base, and the fourth is inside our occupied Palestinian territories, which is the Zevulon naval facility."
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