Secretary-General António Guterres has urged the heads of the United Nations’ principal relief agencies, including the World Food Programme and UNICEF, to rebuff appeals by Israel and the United States to undertake work currently carried out by the world body’s beleaguered Palestinian refugee agency.
The outreach pits Guterres against the Biden administration, which is mounting a campaign to persuade the U.N.’s main relief organizations to take over some of the functions of the U.N. Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East, or UNRWA, the decades-old Palestinian aid agency that Israel has accused of complicity in Hamas’ crimes, reflecting concerns that its financial future is endangered.
The effort is being led by U.S. Special Envoy for Middle East Humanitarian Issues David Satterfield and supported by the State Department and the U.S. Agency for International Development. As part of that, the U.S. government has underscored the importance of UNRWA, while pressing other U.N. agencies to take on a broader role in delivering assistance in Gaza, reflecting concern that Congress will halt hundreds of millions in aid each year to the Palestinian refugees.