MEMPHIS REISEN

Israel’s allies withdraw funding from UNRWA amid ongoing genocide in Gaza – Dailynewsegypt

The Ministry of Health in Gaza said on Sunday that the Israeli occupation committed 19 massacres against civilians in the Gaza Strip, leaving 165 dead and 290 injured during the past 24 hours.

According to the Ministry the toll of the Israeli aggression has risen to 26,422 dead and 65,087 injured since the seventh of last October.

Ministry’s spokesperson Ashraf Al-Qudra said that the people were forced to bury 150 of the dead and deaths in the courtyard of the Nasser Medical Complex as a result of the occupation forces’ siege of it, and there are still 30 unidentified dead people in the morgue of the Nasser Medical Complex.

The Palestinian Red Crescent announced that the organization’s Al-Amal Hospital in Khan Yunis, south of the Gaza Strip, had run out of oxygen supplies due to the continued siege. It also announced the arrival of 7 injured people to the hospital following an Israeli bombing of a nearby house. The Red Crescent reported earlier on Sunday that Israeli bombing and gunfire continued around Al Amal Hospital, resulting in a number of injuries.

Also on Sunday, the Palestinian Prisoners’ Club said that the occupation has arrested 22 citizens since night in the occupied West Bank, bringing the number of detainees since last October 7 to 6,330.

In a related context, the Israeli occupation army declared the Kerem Shalom crossing area a closed military zone, after demonstrators prevented the entry of humanitarian aid into the Gaza Strip. For the fourth day, dozens of Israeli demonstrators obstructed the entry of goods into the Gaza Strip at the Kerem Shalom crossing.

Meanwhile, the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) warned that the risk of famine in Gaza was imminent, as many people in the Strip were facing hunger. The agency said that after several Western countries announced they would stop funding it, more than 2 million people in Gaza relied on the agency to survive amid the war and displacement.

“We have been distributing vital supplies to hundreds of thousands of displaced people for weeks on end during the brutal war. In addition to food, water and life-saving medicines, we are providing blankets, hygiene kits, sanitary pads and diapers. More supplies are needed,” UNRWA said.

The UN Secretary-General, António Guterres, appealed in a statement to the donor countries to resume their funding for UNRWA in Gaza, after nine countries temporarily suspended their support to the agency.

The UN Special Rapporteur on Palestine, Francesca Albanese, said that the countries that withdrew their funding from UNRWA were complicit in the “genocide” in Gaza.

Albanese wrote in a blog post on “X” platform that the decision by some countries to stop funding UNRWA came a day after the International Court of Justice rejected Israel’s request to dismiss the “genocide” lawsuit in Gaza filed by South Africa.

She said that the countries that cut their funding to UNRWA “were punishing millions of Palestinians at a critical time” and accused them of violating their obligations under the Convention on the Prevention of Genocide.

Guterres announced the dismissal of nine out of 12 UNRWA staff members who he said were involved in the 7 October attack on Israel, after accusations from Tel Aviv that some of the agency’s employees participated in the “Al-Aqsa Flood” battle.

Guterres said: “Any UN employee involved in terrorist acts will be held accountable, including through criminal prosecution.”

In response, the Palestinian presidency rejected what it called the “unfair campaign” against UNRWA and urged the countries that suspended their funding for the agency to reverse their decision.

The Palestinian Foreign Ministry also renewed its call on the countries that stopped their funding to UNRWA to reconsider and retract their decision “in favour of humanity and in line with their declared positions on the need to protect civilians and ensure their basic humanitarian needs.”

In a press statement on Sunday, the ministry considered the decision of some countries to suspend their funding to UNRWA as a collective punishment for millions of Palestinians, especially in light of the humanitarian disaster that Gaza was facing, which had been under continuous attack since 7 October.

Meanwhile, the Ministry of Health in Gaza reported that the Israeli forces committed 19 massacres against civilians in the Gaza Strip, killing 165 and injuring 290 in the past 24 hours.

The ministry said on Sunday that the death toll of the Israeli attacks had reached 26,422 and the number of injured had risen to 65,087 since 7 October 2023.

Ashraf Al-Qudra, the spokesperson of the Ministry of Health, said that the people had to bury 150 of the dead in the yard of the Nasser Medical Complex due to the siege imposed by the Israeli forces. He added that there were still 30 unidentified bodies in the morgue of the complex.

The Palestinian Red Crescent said that its Al-Amal Hospital in Khan Yunis, south of the Gaza Strip, had run out of oxygen supplies because of the ongoing siege. It also said that seven injured people arrived at the hospital after an Israeli airstrike hit a nearby house. The Red Crescent reported earlier on Sunday that the Israeli shelling and shooting continued around Al Amal Hospital, causing several injuries.

Also on Sunday, the Palestinian Prisoners’ Club said that the Israeli forces had arrested 22 Palestinians since night in the occupied West Bank, bringing the total number of detainees since 7 October to 6,330.

In a related development, the Israeli army declared the Kerem Shalom crossing area a closed military zone, after protesters blocked the entry of humanitarian aid into the Gaza Strip. For the fourth day, dozens of Israeli protesters prevented the entry of goods into the Gaza Strip at the Kerem Shalom crossing.

On the ground, the Israeli army said that 2,765 officers and soldiers were injured since the start of the war on Gaza, including 1,273 who were injured since the launch of the ground offensive on 27 October.

It added that 397 soldiers were still receiving treatment after being wounded in the Gaza battles, 39 of whom were in serious condition.

Meanwhile, the Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades, the military wing of Hamas, said that its fighters targeted four “Merkava” tanks with two “Al-Yassin 105” shells in the Al-Amal neighbourhood and the Jourat Al-Aqqad area, west of Khan Yunis, in the southern Gaza Strip.

The Abu Ali Mustafa Brigades also carried out tactical firing at Israeli vehicles and soldiers in the eastern areas of Jabalia and Gaza with various mortar shells.