Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said today, Wednesday, that “the time has come for the international community and the United Nations itself to understand that UNRWA’s mission must end,” in a meeting he gathered with a delegation that includes ambassadors of foreign countries to the United Nations, considering that “there are agencies Other United Nations and other state organizations must replace UNRWA.”

This comes within the framework of the Israeli campaign that has been ongoing for years and has escalated in light of the ongoing war on the Gaza Strip, which has been besieged for 117 days, against the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA), in an attempt to liquidate the Palestinian refugee file, by fighting the agency that was established in Decembe 1949, to provide aid to refugees.

Netanyahu's statements came during his meeting with the ambassadors of Western countries supporting Israel at the United Nations and international forums, which include the countries: Malta, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Romania, Ukraine, Slovenia and Sierra Leone, in the Prime Minister's Office in Jerusalem, in the presence of Israel's ambassador to the United Nations, Gilad Erdan.

As part of his continued attack on the United Nations, Netanyahu said, “The United Nations is not a distinguished organization when it comes to dealing with Israel, as it is often incredibly biased. It has a Human Rights Council, so to speak, that devotes a large portion of its decisions against Israel.” He did not issue a single decision against Iran, Yemen, or other places where there is cruelty and aggression.”

He continued, "I do not mean that what is required of them is to condemn these countries and us, because Israel is waging a war of civilization against barbarism, and because it is responding to brutal attacks carried out without provocation on our part, and because it is doing so with the greatest effort ever devoted by any army to reduce the harm to civilians as much as possible" while we fight against an enemy committing a double war crime."

Netanyahu repeated the Israeli allegations that the occupation authorities did not provide any evidence that occurred during the attack of last October 7, including “slaughtering and raping women and men, beheading them after raping them, burning children while they were still alive, and many other atrocities, which we only saw such things practiced against the Jews in the Holocaust."

In evidence that the escalating Israeli campaign against UNRWA came in the wake of the decision of the International Court of Justice in The Hague, Netanyahu said, “South Africa had the audacity to raise this matter to the International Court of Justice and accuse us of committing the crime of genocide. What is more horrific than that are the many false accusations that are not “The unfounded allegations that we were accused of in The Hague were presented by UNRWA employees, and in the past few weeks we discovered that UNRWA employees participated in the massacre,” he said.

He added, "It is time for the international community and the United Nations to understand that UNRWA's mission must end. The agency is working to perpetuate itself. It seeks to preserve the Palestinian refugee issue. We must replace it with other UN agencies and other relief organizations, if we want to solve the Gaza problem as we plan to do." 

He continued, "There are other agencies affiliated with the United Nations, there are other agencies in the world that must replace UNRWA." He claimed that "Hamas infiltrated UNRWA. The organization works in the service of Hamas, in its schools and in other places. I say this with great sadness, because we wanted an objective and useful body to provide assistance. We need such a body today in Gaza. UNRWA is not this body. It must be "It is replaced by an organization or organizations that takes over the task."

Guterres: UNRWA is the "backbone" of humanitarian efforts in Gaza

For his part, the Secretary-General of the United Nations, António Guterres, affirmed today that UNRWA is “the backbone of all humanitarian efforts in Gaza,” and appealed to all countries “to ensure the continuity of UNRWA’s life-saving work,” after several countries suspended funding for the agency following Israel’s accusation 12 One of its employees was implicated in the attacks of last October 7.

Guterres told a United Nations committee concerned with Palestinian rights, “Yesterday I met with donors to listen to their concerns and determine the steps we are taking to deal with them... UNRWA is the backbone of the humanitarian response in the entire Gaza,” while UN agencies confirmed that suspending funding for UNRWA “is a dangerous matter and may lead to the collapse of the humanitarian system in Gaza.

Guterres stressed that "the humanitarian system in Gaza is collapsing." He added, "I am deeply concerned about the inhumane conditions experienced by 2.2 million people in Gaza as they struggle to survive without any basic necessities."

Following the Israeli allegations, 18 countries and the European Union decided to suspend funding for UNRWA. These countries include: the United States, Canada, Australia, Japan, Italy, Britain, Finland, Germany, the Netherlands, France, Switzerland, Austria, Sweden, New Zealand, Iceland, Romania, Estonia, Sweden, in addition to the European Union.