Two sources cited by Reuters reported yesterday, Tuesday, that an agreement was reached in the US Congress and the White House on a draft law with a huge funding package for the army, the State Department, and a group of other government programs that will continue to ban American funding for the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) until March. March 2025.

In January, President Joe Biden's administration announced the cessation of funding for the agency, after Israel accused 12 of its 13,000 employees in the Gaza Strip of participating in the October 7 attack (Al-Aqsa Flood).

The US Senate approved legislation last month to stop funding UNRWA, which was part of a $95 billion aid package for Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan, and the legislation is still awaiting approval by the House of Representatives.

Aid advocates are trying to restore funding, and are calling on Washington to support UNRWA at a time when relief groups are working to stave off a looming famine in Gaza.

Freeze

The two sources familiar with the agreement said that funding would be frozen for a year, and that details of alternative efforts to provide humanitarian assistance to Palestinians in Gaza would be discussed after the legislation is published.

The White House and Congressional officials declined to comment on the details of the agreement until the texts of the spending bills are published.

UNRWA was established by a resolution of the United Nations General Assembly in 1949, and was mandated to provide assistance and protection to refugees in 5 regions: Jordan, Syria, Lebanon, the West Bank, and the Gaza Strip. Its work aims to reach a just solution to the refugee tragedy.

Today, UNRWA directly employs 30,000 Palestinians, and provides the civil and humanitarian needs of about 5.9 million refugee children in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, and in large camps in neighboring Arab countries.

In Gaza, UNRWA runs the Strip's schools, primary health care institutions and other community services, and distributes humanitarian aid.