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Ammon News - Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs and Expatriate Affairs, Ayman Safadi, confirmed that the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) plays an indispensable role in delivering humanitarian aid to more than two million Palestinians facing a humanitarian catastrophe as a result of the Israeli aggression on Gaza.

Safadi stressed in a phone call with UNRWA's Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini, the need for the international community to continue providing the necessary assistance to UNRWA to enable it to continue providing its services in Gaza, whose people are facing famine.

Israel refuses to allow humanitarian and sustainable aid to enter the Strip, in flagrant violation of international humanitarian law and the decision of the International Court of Justice (ICJ).

Safadi also stressed the need for the agency not to be subject to collective punishment as a result of allegations against 12 of its 13,000 staff in Gaza, especially since the agency has begun an immediate investigation into these allegations.

Safadi and Lazzarini urged the countries that announced the suspension of their support for UNRWA to reverse their decision to ensure the agency’s ability to provide its vital services, on which more than 2 million Palestinians in Gaza depend for the most basic necessities of life, and whose shelters provide the only refuge for about one million of the approximately one million nine hundred thousand Palestinians who were displaced in Gaza since the start of the aggression.

UNRWA requested the United Nations Office of Internal Oversight Services, to conduct an independent and transparent investigation into the allegations of the participation of 12 of its employees in the October 7 attack, and terminated the contracts of these employees, Lazzarini pointed out.