The UN’s Palestinian refugee agency UNRWA said on Wednesday that a “severe” financial crisis this week has forced the agency to lay off hundreds of workers from Gaza who have left the territory.
– On Tuesday, 571 local UNRWA workers, outside Gaza, were informed that they were immediately separated from the agency – the spokeswoman said in an e-mail statement to AFP.
UNRWA has been providing assistance to Palestinian refugees in Gaza, the West Bank, Lebanon, Jordan and Syria for more than seven decades.
However, the agency has seen a decline in the voluntary donations it relies on in recent years, while becoming the target of increasingly harsh criticism and attacks from Israel, leading to what a spokeswoman called an “unprecedented financial crisis”.
While UNRWA was supposed to allocate about 880 million dollars for its work in 2025, it received only about 570 million dollars in donations. “Given the current circumstances, we expect a significant lack of funds in 2026 as well,” the spokeswoman added.
All employees affected by this decision previously worked in the Gaza Strip, but managed to leave the territory at the start of the Israeli offensive.
Intense slander
Most of the staff were unable to perform their duties remotely after leaving Gaza, but remained on UNRWA’s payroll until March, when they were placed on extraordinary unpaid leave.
– The affected workers have not been paid for more than 10 months, and it is impossible to predict when or if they will be able to resume work due to circumstances completely beyond the control of UNRWA – the spokeswoman pointed out.
“Aware of the difficult financial situation, the agency made a decision that at least allows them quick access to financial resources, including severance pay.”
The spokeswoman stressed that UNRWA, which has lost more than 300 staff in Gaza since the start of the war, still has around 12,000 workers inside the Palestinian territory.
Israel has banned UNRWA from working on its territory, accusing the agency of providing cover for Hamas militants and claiming that some of its employees participated in the October 7 attack.
Several investigations found some “problems related to neutrality” at UNRWA, but stressed that Israel had not provided conclusive evidence for the main charge.
Tuesday’s decision was “extremely difficult and made due to an extremely challenging financial situation, as well as intense smear campaigns aimed at tarnishing UNRWA’s reputation and discouraging donors,” the spokeswoman concluded.
(Vijesti.ba)
