WHO boss and UN relief chief appeal for UNRWA payments to continue
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The head of the World Health Organization (WHO) and the UN's humanitarian chief appealed on Wednesday for payments to continue to the main aid agency in Gaza, saying a catastrophe awaits if the funds remain frozen.
"No other entity has the capacity to deliver the scale and breadth of assistance that 2.2 million people in Gaza urgently need," WHO boss Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus posted on X, formerly Twitter.
He called on all to keep up the payments to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA).
"Decisions by various countries to pause funds for UNRWA, the largest supplier of humanitarian aid in this crisis, will have catastrophic consequences for the people of Gaza," he said.
The United States, Britain, Germany, Canada, Australia and several other countries have suspended payments following allegations that a handful of UNRWA employees were directly or indirectly involved in the acts of terrorism carried out by Hamas in Israel on October 7.
Israel has put the number of individuals at around a dozen, with some of those said to be responsible for the kidnapping of Israelis.
Tedros also called for the release of the hostages abducted from Israel on October 7, for humanitarian aid convoys to the Gaza Strip not to be stopped, and for health care facilities to be spared from attack and use by militants.
"And we continue to call for a ceasefire," he said.
UN Emergency Relief Coordinator Martin Griffiths called UNRWA a "beating heart" in Gaza.
Speaking at the UN Security Council in New York on Wednesday, he said that he was appalled by the claims, but that "lifesaving services ... should not be jeopardized by the alleged actions of a few individuals."
