UN Secretary‑General warns UNRWA funding crisis threatens services for 2.6 million Palestine refugees

Secretary‑General António Guterres told the United Nations General Assembly that the safety and welfare of millions of Palestine refugees "hangs in the balance" and warned that the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) faces a liquidity crisis that jeopardizes its ability to deliver essential services.

Guterres said recent hostilities have left conditions in Gaza "utterly appalling," with "Israeli attacks [having] killed more than a thousand Palestinians" and communities facing unexploded ordnance, open sewers, rodent infestations, disease outbreaks and shortages of shelter, food, water and health care. He said UNRWA remains Gaza's largest primary health‑care provider and carries out immunization campaigns, nutrition screenings, water‑quality testing and other emergency services.

The secretary‑general said UNRWA is confronting a severe cash shortfall and implementation challenges, adding that "a deficit of a 100 million US dollars prevents the agency from meeting its current obligations." He commended Christian Saunders, the acting commissioner‑general, and praised UNRWA personnel for continuing to deliver services under "some of the harshest conditions imaginable." Guterres said austerity measures this year have already reduced service delivery by 20%, cut salaries for most local personnel and left 15% of international posts vacant.

Guterres also accused actors of trying to marginalize and undermine UNRWA through "disinformation, smear campaigns, legislative actions, operational restrictions, diplomatic roadblocks," and said those actions endanger both Palestine refugees and UNRWA staff. "Since October 2023, more than 390 of our dear colleagues in Gaza have been killed," he said, adding that every agency premise in Gaza has been damaged or destroyed and that international personnel have been barred from entering the occupied Palestinian territory for nearly 18 months.

On the seizure of UNRWA's premises in occupied East Jerusalem earlier this year, Guterres said the action was "unlawfully seized," called it a striking violation of United Nations privileges and immunities, and urged adherence to international law, noting that the International Court of Justice "has clearly recalled the obligations of Israel in relation to the presence and activities of the United Nations, including UNRWA."

Guterres said UNRWA has taken steps to strengthen internal safeguards, reaffirming its commitment to humanitarian principles and implementing 40 recommendations from an independent review of the agency's neutrality led by Catherine Colonna in 2024, with 10 recommendations still pending. He urged member states to pair political support with urgent funding: "Not next year, not next month, now."

The General Assembly president thanked the secretary‑general after his remarks. No formal vote or action was recorded in the address.