India pledges continued assistance to UN agency aiding Palestinians

India has pledged to continue supporting the embattled United Nations Relief and Works Agency UNRWA helping Palestinians which is facing a financial crisis even as its needs have risen because of the IsraelHamas conflict in GazaR Ravindra the charge drsquoaffaires of Indiarsquos UN mission said that the nation will continue its annual contributions of 5 million to the agency and will release half the amount in the coming daysHe was speaking at a pledging conference to help UNRWA which provides humanitarian assistance to Palestinians and is facing a shortfall in budget after its biggest contributor the United States and some other countries suspended payments amid allegations of that its staff were involved in terrorismWashington contributes about 340 million to UNRWArsquos 16 billion budget but the US Congress has passed a legislative measure to stop aid to the agency till at least next yearGeneral Assembly President Dennis Francis said ldquoConsidering the essential services delivered by the agency and its staff it should deeply alarm us all that UNRWA is currently standing on the precipice of financial collapserdquoIn his pitch for donations to make up for the shortfall he referred to CommissionerGeneral Lazzarinirsquos warning that the budget deficit could force it to end operations this yearUNRWA the largest UN agency with 30000 employees provides a range of services from food delivery and housing to healthcare and educationRavindra said that UNRWArsquos ldquorole to assuage the difficult humanitarian situation remains critical particularly its humanitarian and social services to the Palestinian refugee community living in Palestine Syria Jordan and LebanonrdquoBeyond UNRWA he said India has been a ldquotrusted development partnerrdquo for the people of PalestineldquoOur developmental assistance to Palestine in various forms over the years amounts to close to 120 million including 35 million as a contribution to UNRWArdquo he saidIn addition New Delhi is giving scholarships to 50 Palestinian students to pursue undergraduate postgraduate and doctoral studies in India and is donating medicines requested by UNRWAldquoThere is also a request from the Palestinian Authority for lifesaving medicines which we are actively consideringrdquo he addedRavindra prefaced the aid commitment to UNRWA with a strong condemnation of the October 7 Hamas terrorist attack on Israel which is at the root of the UNRWA crisis and the humanitarian disaster in GazaldquoThe barbaric terrorist attack on October 7 last year deserves our unequivocal condemnation and we demand unconditional release of all hostagesrdquo he said referring to the hostages taken by Hamas and other groups during the attack which killed about 1200 people in IsraelAt the same time he said ldquoIndia has taken a principled position on the ongoing IsraelHamas conflict in Gaza and strongly condemned the death of civilians especially women and childrenrdquoIn the Israeli retribution about 30000 people most of them women and children have been killed in the ground and air attack on GazaldquoWe have also been emphasising respect for international law and international humanitarian law under all circumstancesrdquo he saidSecretaryGeneral Antonio Guterres called the agency ldquothe backbone of humanitarian operations in Gazardquo and ldquothere is no alternative to UNRWArdquoAlso read Israeli strike in Gaza kills 20 Palestinians in safe zoneHe said that 195 staffers have been killed in the current crisis ndash ldquothe highest staff death toll in UN historyrdquo ndash and UNRWA is being targeted in many other waysldquoStaff have been the subject of increasingly violent protests and virulent misinformation and disinformation campaignsrdquo he said and ldquosome have been detained by Israeli security forces and subsequently reported mistreatment and even torturerdquoldquoCan you imagine how our colleagues wake up day after day in a living nightmare and still deliver for Palestinians in desperate need Because I cannotrdquo he saidRegarding the criticism of UNRWA he referred to a report by former French Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna on the controversies surrounding the agencyldquoWe are working on all fronts to implement the recommendations of the Catherine Colonna Report by strengthening UNRWArsquos work and risk management mechanismsrdquo he saidHer report found that investigations into allegations against UNRWA and its staff had been inadequateIt said that the agencyrsquos facilities had at times been used for ldquopolitical or military purposesrdquo some UNRWA staff had failed to remain neutral and expressed controversial political views and some school textbooks had problematic contentThe decisions by the US and other countries to stop funding UNRWA were prompted by Israelrsquos allegations that 12 UNRWA employees had participated in the October 7 terrorist attackThe UN promptly fired the employees and launched an investigation that is still in progressMeanwhile a Bill to designate UNRWA as a terrorist organisation is wending its way through Knesset the Israeli parliament and got through a preliminary voteThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever