Demonstration in support of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) in front of the UN agency's headquarters in Beirut, Jan. 30, 2024. (Credit: Mohammad Yassine)
BEIRUT – Nearly 200 people demonstrated outside the headquarters of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) in Beirut to show their support for the UN agency as several countries suspended funding following accusations that some of its employees were involved in the Hamas attack on Oct. 7, 2023.
"Stopping funding for UNRWA threatens the future of Palestinian refugees," "Gaza needs rapid relief," "UNRWA is my right until I return," read some of the placards held up by the demonstrators.
A demonstrator holds up a placard during a rally in support of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) outside the UN agency's headquarters in Beirut, Jan. 30, 2024. (Credit: Mohammad Yassine)
"We're here to support Gaza. If they open the borders, we'll go to Palestine," said Malak, a refugee from the Bourj al-Barajneh camp, south of Beirut, to our local journalist Zeina Antonios. The suspension of UNRWA funding "at this dangerous time is a plot against our people in Gaza," stated Mohammad, a Palestinian refugee from the Nahr el-Bared camp near Tripoli.
UNRWA has been accused by Israel of involvement in the Hamas attack on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023. 12 countries, including the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany and Japan, have announced that they are suspending their funding to the UN agency in the wake of these accusations, despite UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres's call for aid to continue. Guterres is due to receive the agency's "major donors" in New York on Tuesday to review the situation.
This article originally appeared in French in L'Orient-Le Jour.