Egypt's FM says suspending funding to UNRWA "unacceptable at this sensitive time"

CAIRO - 30 January 2024: Egyptian Minister of Foreign Affairs, Sameh Shoukry, will receive on Wednesday Ambassador David Satterfield, the US Special Envoy for Humanitarian Affairs in the Middle East, at the Ministry’s headquarters in the New Administrative Capital.

 

Ambassador Ahmed Abu Zeid, the official spokesman and director of the Public Diplomacy Department at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, had stated that on Sunday, Foreign Minister Sameh Shukri made a call with Philippe Lazzarini, Commissioner-General of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA).

 

The official spokesman for the Foreign Ministry stated that Minister Sameh Shoukri stressed during the call the pivotal role played by UNRWA, in accordance with its UN mandate, in providing basic services to Palestinian refugees.

 

The minister said that in light of the worsening humanitarian situation in the Strip, that it is unacceptable for some countries to take decisions to suspend their funding for the agency’s activities at this sensitive time, in what appears to be collective punishment against all of the agency’s workers, whose number reach 30,000, as well as Children of the Palestinian people, following allegations related to the involvement of a very limited number of agency employees in the events of October 7, allegations that are still subject to a transparent internal investigation and review process within the agency’s agencies.

 

In the same context, Minister Shoukri stressed that attempts to target UNRWA in light of this difficult time, and limit its ability to carry out its tasks in Gaza, exacerbate the dangerous effects of the policy of siege, starvation and collective punishment imposed by Israel on the Palestinians, stressing Egypt’s full solidarity with UNRWA, to provide all aspects of support to ensure its continued provision of vital services to the Palestinians.

 

For his part, the Commissioner-General of UNRWA expressed his regret for the decisions taken to suspend funding in light of the current humanitarian crisis that the Palestinians in Gaza are suffering from, and its repercussions on the regularity of the agency’s tasks during the coming period, expressing his deep appreciation for the important and vital role that Egypt plays in providing aid to the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, and Egypt’s support and solidarity with the Agency in the challenges it faces.

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