Palestinian relief agency faces cash crunch in March, chief says
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Major donors have suspended funding to UNRWA after allegations that 12 of the UN agency’s thousands of Palestinian employees were suspected of involvement in the Oct 7 Hamas attack on Israel that led to the Gaza war.
PHOTO: REUTERS
DUBLIN – UNRWA, the United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees, faces a cash crunch in March and its financial problems will accelerate in April if funding suspended by a number of countries does not resume, the head of the agency said on Feb 14.
“We will hit a negative cash flow as from March and then it will be accelerated in April unless this frozen contribution is unlocked,” UNRWA head Philippe Lazzarini told Irish national broadcaster RTE before a meeting in Dublin with the country’s foreign minister.
Negative cash flow is when an organisation or business has more money outgoing than incoming, impacting its ability to sustain itself.
Israel has said that UNRWA, which has helped Palestinians for more than 70 years, is not fit for purpose.
Major donors have suspended funding after allegations that 12 of UNRWA’s thousands of Palestinian employees were suspected of involvement in the Oct 7 Hamas attack on Israel that led to the Gaza war.
Mr Lazzarini said earlier this week that calls for UNRWA to be dismantled were short-sighted and terminating its mandate would deepen the humanitarian crisis in Gaza. REUTERS
