These individuals have written opinion pieces calling for UNRWA to be defunded or dismantled
On June 30, a group of more than 240 NGOs released a statement decrying the current state of affairs in Gaza.
The statement disturbingly sums up the situation: “Today, Palestinians in Gaza face an impossible choice: starve or risk being shot while trying desperately to reach food to feed their families.”
Over the course of the past few weeks, at least 766 Palestinians have been killed and 5,044 injured while attempting to prevent themselves and their families from starving to death.
Describing the horrors these Palestinians face, the statement notes: “Under the Israeli government’s new scheme, starved and weakened civilians are being forced to trek for hours through dangerous terrain and active conflict zones, only to face a violent, chaotic race to reach fenced, militarized distribution sites with a single entry point. There, thousands are released into chaotic enclosures to fight for limited food supplies. These areas have become sites of repeated massacres in blatant disregard for international humanitarian law.”
The situation is in part a result of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) being banned by Israel in October 2024, and the design of the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), the organization set up to replace it.
For example, the NGO statement noted that the more than 400 aid sites previously in Gaza have now been “replaced by just four military-controlled distribution sites.” In addition, journalists have reported that Israeli soldiers and the contractors at these sites have been ordered to fire at civilians and/or done so at will.
The NGOs ultimately “call for immediate action to end the deadly Israeli distribution scheme (including the so-called Gaza Humanitarian Foundation) in Gaza” and to “revert to the existing UN-led coordination mechanisms.”
UNRWA has been attacked by Zionists for decades, but the campaign intensified after Oct. 7, 2023. (more...)
As Gaza Starves, Remember Writers Who Opposed UNRWA
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