The United Nations Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Middle East (UNRWA), with some 30,000 employees, of which 13,000 are in the Gaza Strip, is the greater organization in the area outside the Government of the Stripcontrolled by Hamas since 2007.

The Israeli offensive has left the Palestinian enclave more than 26,257 dead and 64,797 injured (according to data from the Ministry of Health, controlled by Hamas), while survivors face an unprecedented humanitarian crisis. Under the rains and frosts of winter, thousands of families with children and the elderly live in plastic tents in the open, amid the outbreak of epidemics and the collapse of hospitals, in addition to the persistent shortage of drinking water, food, medicine and electricity. .

As the humanitarian agency itself explains on its website, 80% of the population of Gaza depends on emergency aid from UNRWA, and 59% is classified as a population in a situation of food insecurity. Additionally, at least 58% live below the poverty line, on less than $1 a day. A situation that has worsened in recent months with Hamas’s attack on Israel and the response of the Netanyahu regime.

UNRWA does very diverse work for the Palestine refugee population, from providing protection and social services until offering basic health services and make the possibility of a education and school safety reach all boys and girls. A vulnerable community that reaches 5.9 million people.

This NGO began its work in 1950 when with the end of the Arab-Israeli war, the United Nations General Assembly unanimously approved the creation of refugee camps with the support of Israel and the Arab States.

Its financing depends almost entirely on the budget items decided voluntarily by each UN country. But in recent days, its future has been cut short by accusations against several UNRWA employees for their possible relationship with Hamas and the October attacks.

The US, Canada, the United Kingdom, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Finland and Australia announced this weekend the suspension of funds, after the agency terminated the contracts of several employees due to these accusations. The Secretary General of the UN, António Guterres has called for an investigationwhich is already in charge of the United Nations Office of Internal Oversight Services, the organization’s highest investigative authority.

The Spanish Foreign Minister, José Manuel Albares, has announced that Spain will maintain funding for UNRWA. “We will not modify our relationship with UNRWA although we are closely monitoring the internal investigation and the results it may yield due to the actions of a dozen of the around 30,000 people” who work for this UN agency, Albares stressed.

The Government made voluntary contributions to UNRWA worth €18.5 million in 2023, including €10 million approved last December, following the decision to triple cooperation and humanitarian aid to Palestine. This is how he spoke during his appearance before the Foreign Affairs Commission of the Congress of Deputies, after on Friday the UNRWA announced the expulsion and opening of an immediate investigation to several members of the organization for their alleged participation in the Hamas terrorist attack against Israel on October 7. Shortly after, the United States announced that it was suspending funding to this UN agency, a step that other countries such as the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia and Japan also took over the weekend.

Within the EU, there has been division between partners. Thus, countries such as Italy, the Netherlands and Germany have announced that they will not contribute more funds to UNRWA, while France has said that it will not do so for the moment, although it did not plan any disbursement soon. In contrast, Ireland has made it clear that it has no intention of stopping funding this UN agency. In Spain, government partners have defended that UNRWA funding not be interrupted.