Breathe
By Cristina Gutierrez
This Monday, November 4, Israel officially notified the United Nations of the cancellation of its agreement with the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), prohibiting its activities in the occupied Palestinian territories. UNRWA was established in 1950 by the UN and provides social services to millions of Palestinian refugees, many of them descendants of the hundreds of thousands of displaced persons caused by the creation of the state of Israel in 1948.
UNRWA provides education, health care and other basic services to more than five million refugees in Gaza, the West Bank, Lebanon, Syria and Jordan. In Gaza, where refugee families represent the majority of the 2.2 million population, the support provided by UNRWA is essential and basic to the survival of the population. UNRWA represents the backbone of the humanitarian assistance that Gaza receives and on which 80% of the population depends for survival. UNRWA spokesman Jonathan Fowler said that without UNRWA's presence in the occupied territories "humanitarian aid in Gaza would collapse" and "it is an outrage that violates Israel's obligations under the UN Charter, as well as longstanding decisions of the General Assembly and the International Court of Justice". For her part, the head of the Children's Fund (UNICEF), Catherine Russell, recalled that UNRWA is crucial in delivering vital aid to Palestinian children and families and without it the lives and future of Palestinian children are at stake. The State of Israel's ban on UNRWA operations in Gaza adds to the already immeasurable suffering of a population on the brink of famine.
In tandem with the decision to dismantle UNRWA activities, Israel continues its siege against Gaza, leaving at least 33 Palestinians dead on Sunday, November 3 alone. Most of the deaths occurred in the northern Gaza Strip where the Israeli army has waged a deadly campaign over the past month targeting hospitals, refugee camps, schools and homes in that area of the Palestinian enclave. The new operation in northern Gaza has left hundreds of Palestinians dead, adding to the more than 43,000 killed since the start of the war.
Without the humanitarian aid provided by UNRWA in Gaza and without the possibility of a permanent ceasefire in the near future, the people of the Gaza Strip are increasingly alone in their devastation. Humanitarian aid is indispensable for their survival and without it they will hardly be able to cope with the urgent needs for food, clean water and medical assistance of some 2.2 million people living trapped in the hell that Gaza has become. The international community has abandoned the people of Gaza by allowing the massive destruction and deaths that have resulted from Israeli attacks and bombardment for more than a year. If Israel is allowed to prohibit the work of UNRWA in the Palestinian territories, they will also starve them to death. The international community must prevent starvation and the prohibition of medical assistance from being used as collective punishment and another weapon of war by the Israeli state against an increasingly lonely Palestinian population.
The opinions expressed are the responsibility of the authors and are absolutely independent of the position and editorial line of the company. Opinion 51.
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