The UN agency, whose members were implicated in the October 7 attacks in Israel, is urging donor countries to continue their funding.
The UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) has warned of an imminent humanitarian catastrophe in the Gaza Strip, tweeting “People are dying before the eyes of the world”.
Earlier on Friday, UN experts again urged countries to reverse their decision to stop funding UNRWA following the scandal denounced by Israel alleging that staff of the UN agency, infiltrated by Hamas, had participated in the massacres of October 7.
The head of European diplomacy, Josep Borrell, clarified on Saturday that neither the European Commission nor the main member states, including France and Germany, had stopped their funding.
On the Israeli side, relatives of the Hamas hostages fear that the war in Gaza will worsen the situation of the hostages still detained. Anti-government rallies continue in Tel Aviv to demand a way to achieve a ceasefire and therefore release prisoners.
On Saturday, Israeli police used units to control a protest to prevent thousands of participants from spilling into the streets.
Negotiations for a ceasefire
The hope of a ceasefire, negotiations for which began a week ago between Egypt, Qatar and the United States, would still be relevant: Hamas would discuss the “Paris initiative ” with all Palestinian factions.
The movement, considered terrorist in many countries, had already given “prior approval” to a deal, but expressed dissatisfaction over key details.
These negotiations are supported by the EU. High Representative Josef Borrell on Saturday called on all parties to help end the escalation of conflict in the Middle East. Europeans fear that Israel will extend the war to Rafah, on the border between Gaza and Egypt.
Josep Borrell said that about a million Palestinians “have been gradually moved towards the Egyptian border. (The Israelis) were pretending that these were safe zones, but in reality what we are seeing is that the bombings which affect the civilian population continue and create a very disastrous situation.”
