UN chief says Israel forcing Gazans ‘to move like human pinballs’
- Antonio Guterres said ‘civilians are being pushed into ever deeper circles of hell’ as he urged donors to plug UNRWA’s funding gap
The United Nations chief appealed for funding on Friday for the beleaguered UN agency helping Palestinian refugees in Gaza and elsewhere in the Middle East, accusing Israel of issuing evacuation orders that force Palestinians “to move like human pinballs across a landscape of destruction and death.”
Secretary General Antonio Guterres told a donor’s conference that the agency, known as UNRWA, faces “a profound funding gap.”
UNRWA Commissioner General Philippe Lazzarini said at the start of the conference that the agency only had funds to operate through August.
At the end, he told reporters that, while the total amount in pledges won’t be known until next week, he is confident there will be enough new money in its US$850 million annual budget to keep the agency running until the end of September.
UNRWA’s 30,000 staff provide education, primary healthcare and other development activities to about 6 million Palestinian refugees in Gaza, the West Bank, Jordan, Lebanon and Syria.
In the coming months, Lazzarini said UNRWA will be seeking funds to keep its operations going through December – and for emergency appeals for US$1.2 billion for the Gaza war and US$460 million for the Syria crisis, both of which are only 20 per cent funded.