The NSW Ecumenical Council is calling for the immediate restoration of funding for the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA). 

The war in Gaza, following the heinous Hamas attacks on Israel on 7 October 2023, is now in its fourth month. 100,000 people in Gaza are either dead, injured, missing or presumed dead. 1.9 million people are displaced. The UN estimates that 90% of the population face acute hunger. 

It is critical that the Australian government coninues funding for UNRWA’s life-saving work in Gaza, where we are bearing witness to a humanitarian catastrophe. People are in dire need of the most basic lifesaving provisions – food, water, shelter. In these most harrowing conditions, facing the prospect of further military escalation, UNRWA is the backbone of the humanitarian response. It urgently needs to be supported. 

In response to allegations that 12 UNRWA staff (out of a total of 30,000 staff) participated in the heinous Hamas attacks on Israel, UNRWA has acted responsibly, immediately terminated the accused’s contracts, and cooperating fully with the independent investigation by former French Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna. 

Suspending funding in such a dire situation could amount to collective punishment and is a completely disproportionate response; therefore, we urge you to not only restore the funding but increase it.