A UN official says the agency that assists Palestinian refugees, known as UNRWA, will soon run out of money.
Assistant Secretary-General Khaled Khiari tells the UN Security Council that current forecasts show insufficient funds to sustain operations beyond 2025.
UNRWA was established in 1949 to aid Palestinians displaced during the 1948 Arab-Israeli war.
The agency provides health and education services to around 2.5 million Palestinians in Gaza, the West Bank and East Jerusalem, and helps 3 million more in Syria, Jordan and Lebanon.
UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric urges donors to contribute, emphasizing the agency’s critical role.
UNRWA also claimed last year that it was running out of funds.
Israel has accused the agency of working with Hamas, and has provided documentation of some of its employees taking part in the terror group’s October 7 massacre in southern Israel. Slain hostage Yonatan Samerano was seen being abducted in the back of a white UNRWA jeep on October 7, and other freed hostages have said that they were held in UNRWA facilities in Gaza.
Israel passed a law last year prohibiting the UN refugee agency from operating within Israel, though the legislation does not apply to the West Bank or Gaza Strip.
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