'Dire' crisis forces UNRWA to fire 571 Gaza staff

GENEVA:

The UN's beleaguered agency for Palestinian refugees said Wednesday that a "dire" financial crisis had this week forced it to fire hundreds of Gazan staff who had left the territory.

"On Tuesday, 571 local UNRWA staff, outside Gaza, were informed that they were being separated from the agency with immediate effect," a spokesperson told AFP in an email.

For more than seven decades, the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees has provided aid and assistance to Palestinian refugees across Gaza, the West Bank, Lebanon, Jordan and Syria.

But the agency has seen the voluntary contributions it relies on dwindle as it has become the focus of increasingly harsh Israeli criticism and attacks, causing what the spokesperson called an "unprecedented financial crisis".

While the work UNRWA was mandated to do cost around $880 million in 2025, the agency received only around $570 million in contributions, the spokesperson said.

"As things stand, we expect a substantial shortfall in 2026," they added.

All of the staff affected by this week's announcement had originally worked in the Gaza Strip, but had managed to leave early in the war sparked by Hamas's deadly attacks inside Israel on October 7, 2023.

Hamas on Wednesday slammed the decision as "unjust and a violation of the fundamental rights of these employees".

"We call on UNRWA... to assume its role and responsibilities towards the Palestinian people and its employees," it added.

Most had been unable to carry out their duties remotely since leaving Gaza, but had remained on UNRWA's payroll until last March, when they were placed on exceptional unpaid leave, the spokesperson said.

"The affected staff have been without pay for over 10 months, and it is impossible to foresee when or if they could resume their duties due to circumstances entirely beyond UNRWA's control," the spokesperson said.