UNRWA: Video | What is UNRWA and what does it do, Israel’s target. Video

The United Nations Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA, for its acronym in English) is in the midst of a confrontation between the United Nations and Israel due to the conflict in Gaza. The government of Benjamin Netanyahu has accused twelve UNRWA workers of participating in the Hamas attack on 7 October. Their contracts were terminated following an investigation by the United Nations, but this was not enough: countries such as the United States, the United Kingdom, and France have announced that they will stop funding the organization.

The armed conflict has completely changed the agency’s behavior on the ground. UNRWA, which has been caring for displaced Palestinians and their descendants in areas such as Gaza, East Jerusalem and the West Bank since 1948, is finding it difficult to operate in the Gaza Strip. And, it will become even more difficult if it stops getting financing from member states. Raquel Martí, Executive Director of UNRWA Spain, and Dr. Cecilia Estrada, International Migration and Development Cooperation at the Universidad Pontificia Comillas, explain in the video leading up to this news story UNRWA’s role and why it is at the center of the controversy.