Hommam Al Nassim 
The Security Council held a meeting to discuss the situation in the Middle East, which included discussing the challenges faced by the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees “UNRWA” in light of the Gaza war.
UNRWA Commissioner Philippe Lazzarini requested an independent investigation to protect Agency staff and other people arrested by Israeli forces in Gaza, as well as ill-treatment, including severe beatings and forced striptease .
During the session, Algeria announced its intention to make an exceptional financial contribution of $15 million to UNRWA.
Algerian Foreign Minister Ahmed Attaf stressed that “this UN agency has become the subject of an Israeli attack, and Israel did not hesitate to bomb more than 160 centers affiliated with it, and to shed the blood of workers and associates, and to fabricate and market pretexts to dry up its sources of funding and end its existence.”
For his part, Syria’s representative to the United Nations, Qusai Al-Dahhak, stressed his country’s absolute rejection of attempts to prejudice the role of UNRWA, pointing to its important role in supporting refugees.
Lebanon’s representative to the United Nations, Hadi Hashem, reiterated his demand for an immediate ceasefire and an end to the forced displacement of Palestinians, and regarding UNRWA, he said that investing in it is a common interest, while the alternative feeds the closed cycle of violence.
Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi expressed his dissatisfaction with the inability of UNRWA to provide aid, stressing that Israel is preventing it from doing so.
Saudi Arabia’s representative to the United Nations, Abdulaziz Al-Wasil, called for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, and stressed that UNRWA is absolutely irreplaceable, stressing that accusations about the involvement of a number of its employees in the October 7 attack were thrown without evidence or evidence.
Egypt’s delegate, Osama Mahmoud Abdel Khaleq Mahmoud, called for countering attempts to dissolve the agency and for aid to be increased rather than frozen.
Russia’s permanent representative to the UN, Vassily Nebenzia, called on the Security Council to consider “urgently” the issue of imposing sanctions on Israel for not complying with the council’s resolution calling for a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip during Ramadan.
China’s deputy representative to the UN, Geng Shuang, called on Israel to implement Security Council resolutions, stop its aggression on the Gaza Strip, abandon plans to attack Rafah, lift the siege and open all crossings.
It is noteworthy that UNRWA submitted several reports refuting Israel’s allegations regarding the participation of its employees in the October 7, 2023, operation, and revealing that the Agency’s employees were tortured by Israeli forces to force them to make false confessions.
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