10/29/2024–|Last updated: 10/29/202405:12 PM (Mecca time)
United Nations agencies said that Israel’s decision, on Monday, to ban the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) may expose more children to death, and represents a form of collective punishment if fully implemented.
UNICEF spokesman James Elder said, “If UNRWA is unable to work, we will likely witness the collapse of the humanitarian system in Gaza. A sudden decision like this means that Israel has found a new way to kill children.”
The Israeli decision raised concerns about the agency’s inability to continue providing aid in Gaza more than a year after the war.
UNRWA employs thousands to work in Gaza, providing basic supplies to almost all residents of the coastal enclave.
Data issued by the Palestinian health authorities showed that more than 13,000 children, whose identities were confirmed, were martyred as a result of the ongoing Israeli aggression on Gaza since October 7, 2023.
Many other children are believed to have died from diseases caused by the collapse of the healthcare system and lack of food and water.
Collective punishment
Other United Nations agencies emphasized that UNRWA’s work is indispensable.
Tariq Yasarevic, from the World Health Organization, said that about a third of health care workers participating in the ongoing polio vaccination campaign work with UNRWA, adding that the agency has about a thousand health workers in Gaza.
Jens Laerke, spokesman for the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, said that the decision to ban UNRWA represents a form of collective punishment for the residents of Gaza.
He added, “I think it is a fair description of what they decided here. If implemented, it will increase the acts of collective punishment that we are seeing taking place in Gaza.”
Collective punishment, which amounts to a war crime, is a term that refers to the imposition of punishments or intimidation on an entire group in response to actions committed by individuals.