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Leading UN officials and Palestinians have criticized the decision by several Western nations to stop funding UNWRA.
The situation as of Sunday, January 28, 2024 is as follows:
Funding for UNWRA
Following Israel’s accusations that some of UNRWA’s employees participated in Hamas’s October 7 attacks, a number of nations—including the US—are examining their support for the organization that works to aid Palestinian refugees.
- Leading Palestinian figures and Hamas have criticized the decision of approximately twelve Western countries to stop assistance.
- According to UNRWA chief Philippe Lazzarini, cutting off money could be “violating” the Genocide Convention. He commented on X, “Palestinians in Gaza did not need this additional collective punishment.” “We are all stained by this.”
- Antonio Guterres, the secretary-general of the United Nations, promised on Sunday to hold “any UN employee involved in acts of terror” accountable. However, he pleaded with donor nations to “guarantee the continuity” of UNRWA’s work. “It is wrong to penalize the tens of thousands of men and women who serve for UNRWA, many of whom are in some of the riskiest conditions for humanitarian workers. He declared, “We must provide the basic requirements of the impoverished populations they serve.
The agencies’ funding sources have been confirmed by Norway and Ireland.
Humanitarian situation
- Thousands of civilians who were escaping the conflict in Khan Younis have arrived in Rafah, where they are camped out in sewage-flooded tents and sleeping on the streets.
- As Israel’s five-day siege of the Khan Younis hospital continues, Ahmed al-Moghrabi, a plastic surgeon at Nasser Hospital, told Al Jazeera, “Tanks shoot at everybody.”
- There have been 26,257 Palestinian deaths and 64,797 injuries.
Diplomacy
- According to unidentified US sources cited by the AP and The New York Times, Israel would halt hostilities for two months in exchange for the release of 100 prisoners.
- When Qatari Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, Egyptian intelligence chief Abbas Kamel, and David Barnea of Israel’s Mossad intelligence agency meet in France on Sunday, Bill Burns, the director of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), is anticipated to discuss the details of the emerging agreement. The talks will revolve around the captive negotiations.
- Jake Sullivan, the national security adviser for the United States, urged China to convince Iran to stop supporting the Houthis’ attacks on ships in the Red Sea.
Other developments
- There will be an Israeli military government in Gaza, according to Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich.
Following earlier in the evening demonstrations against the government, families of prisoners detained in Gaza staged another round of rallies in Tel Aviv. - For a second night, pro-Palestinian demonstrators gathered in front of US Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s residence.
- The pope has once again called for an end to hostilities in Gaza.
- Following the International Court of Justice’s decision that aid must be sent into Gaza, Israel will no longer permit demonstrators to obstruct trucks transporting humanitarian supplies at the Karem Abu Salem (Kerem Shalom) border, Israel’s Haaretz reported, citing Israeli security sources.
In midnight raids on Hebron and Beita, south of Nablus in the occupied West Bank, Israeli troops detained nine Palestinians, according to Wafa.
Source: Aljazeera
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