<\/p>\n
17 January 2025<\/p>\n
This morning, I briefed the Security Council in a closed session.<\/p>\n
I welcomed the ceasefire and hostage deal in Gaza.<\/p>\n
I joined the Secretary-General in calling on all parties to ensure the deal is fully implemented.<\/p>\n
We need rapid, unhindered and uninterrupted humanitarian access to respond to the tremendous suffering in Gaza.<\/p>\n
A ceasefire is only a starting point.<\/p>\n
Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵRWA is ready to support the international response by scaling up aid delivery.<\/p>\n
We are ready to support the recovery of Gaza by resuming education and continuing to provide primary healthcare.<\/p>\n
I warned that in less than two weeks, the Knesset legislation to end Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵRWA\u2019s operations in the oPt will enter into force.<\/p>\n
Full implementation will be catastrophic.<\/p>\n
In Gaza, it will massively weaken the international humanitarian response.<\/p>\n
This will immeasurably worsen already catastrophic living conditions.<\/p>\n
The Government of Israel claims that Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵRWA\u2019s services can be transferred to other entities.<\/p>\n
In fact, the Agency\u2019s mandate and capacity to provide public-like services to an entire population are unique.<\/p>\n
Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵRWA\u2019s ability to directly provide education and primary healthcare far exceeds that of any other entity.<\/p>\n
These services can only be transferred to a functioning State.<\/p>\n
Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵRWA\u2019s personnel and services are also tightly woven into the social fabric of Gaza.<\/p>\n
The disintegration of the Agency will intensify the breakdown of social order.<\/p>\n
Dismantling Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵRWA now, outside a political process, will undermine the ceasefire agreement and sabotage Gaza\u2019s recovery and political transition.<\/p>\n
In the West Bank, the PA has stated clearly that it does not have the financial resources or capacity to compensate for the loss of Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵRWA\u2019s services.<\/p>\n
A chaotic dismantling of Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵRWA will irreversibly harm the lives and future of Palestinians.<\/p>\n
It will obliterate their trust in the international community and any solution it attempts to facilitate.<\/p>\n
I reminded the Council of the fierce, global disinformation campaign against the Agency.<\/p>\n
Intense diplomatic lobbying by the Government of Israel and affiliates has targeted parliaments and governments in top donor countries.<\/p>\n
Billboards and ads accusing Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵRWA of terrorism recently appeared in several cities, including New York.<\/p>\n
They were paid for by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Israel.<\/p>\n
Google ad campaigns re-direct people seeking information about the Agency to disinformation websites.<\/p>\n
This propaganda endangers our staff in the occupied West Bank and in Gaza \u2013 where 269 colleagues have already been killed.<\/p>\n
It creates a permissive environment for the harassment of our representatives in Europe and the US.<\/p>\n
This year, the Israeli Foreign Ministry received a funding boost of 150 million dollars for such propaganda \u2013 approximately a sixth of Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵRWA\u2019s annual operating budget.<\/p>\n
A ceasefire in Gaza must be followed by a political transition that includes an orderly conclusion of Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵRWA\u2019s mandate and the handover of its public-like services to empowered Palestinian institutions.<\/p>\n
This is the path now pursued by the Global Alliance for the Implementation of the Two-State Solution, led by Saudi Arabia, the EU and the League of Arab States.<\/p>\n
A clear choice lies before us:<\/p>\n
We can allow Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵRWA to implode because of the Knesset legislation and the suspension of funding by key donors.<\/p>\n
Or we can allow the Agency to progressively conclude its mandate within a political framework.<\/p>\n
The Agency is working closely with government authorities in Ramallah on how to meet education and healthcare needs in the oPt.<\/p>\n
Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵRWA is the largest provider of primary healthcare in Gaza, where we still conduct approximately 17,000 medical consultations per day.<\/p>\n
We are the second-largest healthcare provider in the West Bank.<\/p>\n
Our health services and expertise are essential for building a strong national health system.<\/p>\n
Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵRWA also has a pivotal role to play in education.<\/p>\n
In Gaza today, 650,000 girls and boys are living in the rubble.<\/p>\n
Absent a full-fledged State, only Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵRWA has the capacity to bring them back to learning.<\/p>\n
If we fail to resume education in Gaza, and to preserve it in the occupied West Bank, we will sacrifice an entire generation of Palestinian children.<\/p>\n
This will have profound consequences for the future of the Palestinian people, and a Palestinian State.<\/p>\n
It is critical that the efforts to dismantle Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵRWA are not compounded by the Agency\u2019s financial instability.<\/p>\n
This is now a major risk as some key donors have decided to end or reduce their voluntary contributions to the Agency.<\/p>\n
I appealed for an urgent increase in financial support to Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵRWA, the early disbursement of allocated funds, and a review of any funding currently on hold.<\/p>\n
I asked Council members to avert a looming peace and security crisis.<\/p>\n
To prevent the implementation of the Knesset legislation \u2013 the Agency\u2019s personnel and services are integral to the success of the ceasefire.<\/p>\n
To insist on a political path forward and clearly delineate Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵRWA\u2019s role as a provider of essential services, especially education and healthcare.<\/p>\n
To ensure that a financial crisis does not abruptly end the Agency\u2019s lifesaving work.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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