UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has described the United Nations Palestinian Refugee Agency (UNRWA) as “the backbone of all humanitarian assistance”. Gaza“ and called on all countries to “ensure the continuity of UNRWA’s life-saving work”.

Several countries, including the United States, UNRWA’s largest donor, financing is paused after Israel accused some of the agency’s employees of involvement in the October 7 Hamas attack.

In a speech to the UN Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People (CEIRPP) on Wednesday, Guterres said he was “personally appalled” by it accusations against UNRWA staff, but stressed the need to overcome the termination.

“Yesterday I met with donors to listen to their concerns and explain the steps we are taking to address them,” he said.

“I am extremely concerned about the inhumane conditions in which the 2.2 million people in Gaza live as they struggle to survive without basic services.”

Describing conditions in the besieged enclave, the U.N. chief said heavy rains had flooded makeshift tent camps and forced children, parents and the elderly to sleep in mud. Clean water has become almost completely inaccessible and preventable diseases are rampant while the health system has collapsed.

The World Health Organization (WHO) warned on Wednesday of a “massive disaster” unfolding in Gaza.

“This is a population that is starving, this is a population that is being marginalized,” WHO emergencies director Michael Ryan said at a news conference.

“The civilian population in Gaza is not involved in this conflict and should be protected, as should their health facilities.

UN officials have warned that UNRWA will have to suspend operations by the end of February if funding is not restored.

The heads of the WHO, the World Food Program (WFP), UNICEF, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) and other organizations and partners described the allegations as “appalling”.

“However, we cannot prevent an entire organization from fulfilling its mission to help people in urgent need,” they said in a joint statement. “No other entity is capable of providing the scale and breadth of assistance that 2.2 million people in Gaza urgently need.”

“Totally dependent” on UNRWA

At a UN Security Council meeting on Gaza on Wednesday, UN aid chief Martin Griffiths said UNRWA plays a vital role in humanitarian assistance in Gaza.

“To put it simply and clearly, our humanitarian assistance to the occupied Palestinian territories is entirely dependent on UNRWA being adequately funded and operational,” Griffiths told the 15-member council.

“UNRWA’s life-saving services… to more than three-quarters of Gaza’s residents should not be jeopardized by the alleged actions of a few individuals. It is an extraordinary disproportionality,” he said.

Griffiths added that the humanitarian community’s ability to reach the people of Gaza with aid remains “wholly inadequate.”

“We continue to face the issue of Israel denying the entry of urgently needed goods into Gaza for reasons that, at least to us, are unclear and contradictory,” he said.

The International Court of Justice (ICJ) last week ordered Israel to take all measures in its power to prevent its troops from committing genocide Take measures to improve the humanitarian situation the Palestinians in Gaza in a case filed by South Africa.

In its much-anticipated interim decision on Friday, the ICJ did not call for an immediate ceasefire but said Israel must take immediate “immediate and effective” measures to ensure the delivery of urgently needed humanitarian aid and essential services to Gaza.

South Africa’s Foreign Minister Naledi Pandor said on Wednesday all states were obliged to stop funding and facilitating Israel’s military actions in Gaza, after the World Court made clear that those actions have the potential to amount to genocide.

Israel must report to the court within a month on what it is doing to comply with the order and take all measures within its power to prevent genocide in Gaza.

Allegations against UNRWA

The allegations against UNRWA staff became public on Friday when the agency announced that it had fired some employees after Israel provided information. Guterres said Sunday that of the 12 defendants, nine have been released, one is dead and the identities of the remaining two are still being determined.

A six-page Israeli dossier said 12 UNRWA staff took part in the October 7 attacks that killed 1,139 people. It also suggests that Israel has broader evidence that UNRWA employed 190 Hamas and Islamic Jihad fighters.

Later on Wednesday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said UNRWA had been “totally infiltrated by Hamas” and called for its dissolution.

“It is time for the international community and the UN itself to understand that UNRWA’s mission must end,” Netanyahu told visiting UN delegates, according to a statement from his office.

The Palestinians claim Israel has falsified information murky UNRWA.

Donors including the European Union and several European nations, the United Kingdom, Japan and Canada have suspended funding for the agency.

Riyad Mansour, the United Nations’ permanent observer for the Palestinian territories, told the U.N. Security Council on Wednesday that there was no reason to “take measures that actually amount to….” Collective punishment of 30,000 UNRWA staff and millions of refugees” who benefit from UNRWA’s services.

U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Linda Thomas-Greenfield said the U.S. would work to facilitate the delivery of more aid to Gaza, ignoring reports that Israel has consistently blocked U.N. aid efforts.

Thomas-Greenfield also said that the ICJ’s ruling was consistent with the US approach to Gaza and that the conditions for a ceasefire were “not present”.

South Africa’s Pandor said Pretoria had done everything it could and now it was up to the global community to do its part by holding Israel accountable.