From the Liveblog of
Wednesday, July 1, 2026
Guterres warns UNRWA nearing ‘breaking point’
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UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres urges countries to cover a $100 million gap in funding for the UN Palestinian refugee agency UNRWA, saying the body is nearing a breaking point after deep cost-cutting and austerity measures.
Guterres tells an ad hoc meeting of the General Assembly on voluntary contributions that UNRWA’s situation is increasingly precarious given sweeping restrictions throughout Palestinian territory that impede its work and the large cash shortfall.
The United Nations agency operates in Gaza, the West Bank, Lebanon, Jordan and Syria, providing aid, schooling, healthcare, social services and shelter to 2.6 million Palestinians.
The US was UNRWA’s biggest donor, but cut funding in January 2024 after revelations that some of its members took part in the deadly October 7, 2023, attack by Hamas terrorists that triggered the war in Gaza. Sweden also cut its 2025 funding. Other big donors paused funding for UNRWA while the Hamas charges were investigated, but most have resumed their contributions.
Guterres says the agency’s liquidity crisis jeopardized its ability to meet its mandate, which was renewed by the General Assembly six months ago with overwhelming member support.
“They cannot keep going like this without urgent backing and financial support from member states,” Guterres says, noting that the agency had taken decisive steps to implement reforms and update its policy on outside and political activities following revelations of some of its staff’s ties to Hamas.
“UNRWA is a stabilizing force in an age of instability,” he says, rejecting what he calls continued efforts to undermine the agency through “disinformation, smear campaigns, legislative actions, operational restrictions, diplomatic roadblocks and more.”
Such actions threatened the well-being of millions of Palestinians as well as UNRWA staff, Guterres says, noting that 390 UNRWA staff had been killed in Gaza since October 2023.
The UN has said it fired nine UNRWA staff who may have been involved in the October 2023 attack, which killed about 1,200 Israelis and foreign nationals. A Hamas commander in Lebanon, killed in September by Israel, was also found to have had a UNRWA job. The UN has disputed links with Hamas and vowed to investigate all accusations.
UNRWA had reduced its service delivery hours by 20% this year, cutting salaries for local personnel and keeping 15% of international posts vacant, Guterres says, adding, “Any further cuts could push conditions past the breaking point.”
UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric says the agency faced an existential crisis. He says the results of the ad hoc meeting on voluntary contributions would be announced on Wednesday.
In 2025, UNRWA received about $887 million in pledges and $829 million in contributions, according to its website, accounting for just 27% of total funding needs of $3.3 billion.
The Times of Israel Community.