2023-10-09 20:16:00
‘Unable to leave’ 13,000 UN staff are still holding out in the Gaza Strip
October 9, 2023, 10:16 p.m. Listen to article
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Many UN employees are also seeking protection from Israeli air strikes in the Gaza Strip. Apparently they can’t leave the area. Tens of thousands of people are currently staying in emergency accommodation. It is hoped that the West will not stop providing financial support.
According to the United Nations, 13,000 UN employees are in the Gaza Strip. “They are clearly unable to leave,” said UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric. “They are focused on doing everything they can within their mandate to help the population.” They are employees of the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) – most of them are Palestinians, around 300 are international employees.
Israel had ordered the complete closure of the Gaza Strip, which is only 40 kilometers long and six to twelve kilometers wide. The United Nations says it has stockpiled supplies inside the Gaza Strip. “At some point, in the not too distant future, we will run out of supplies,” Dujarric said.
A UNRWA-run school in the Gaza Strip where displaced families had sought refuge was shelled at the weekend, it said. There were no injuries. “More than 137,000 people are housed in 83 UNRWA schools that have been converted into emergency shelters. The number of people is increasing as the airstrikes continue,” the organization said via X.
Hoping for further funding
In view of the announcement by the EU, among others, that it would freeze financial support for Palestinians, UN spokesman Dujarric said when asked: “We very much hope that the financing of UN activities in the occupied Palestinian territories and the Gaza Strip will be protected.”
The EU Commission later said in a statement that it was not suspending aid to the Palestinians and would examine the funds in light of the Hamas attack. “Until then, payments will not be suspended because no payments were scheduled.” The statement contradicts a tweet from EU Commissioner Oliver Varhelyi, who said on X: “All payments (are) suspended immediately.”
Federal Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock is sticking to humanitarian aid for the people in the Palestinian territories. After both Germany and the EU stopped development aid for the Palestinians, she emphasized on the ntv program “Beisenherz” that development cooperation and humanitarian aid were “two different things”. “I think it would be fatal to simply say now that we should no longer provide food aid, for example.” 2.1 million people there rely on food aid from the United Nations.
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