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UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has urged world leaders to increase support for UNRWA, which provides vital humanitarian services for the Palestinian refugees, especially for those living in the war-torn Gaza Strip.
Guterres made his plea at a high-level meeting co-organized by Jordan and Sweden in support of UNRWA, which was held on the margins of the UN General Assembly meetings in New York.
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Colombian President Gustavo Petro criticized Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Tuesday, for his continual attacks on the Gaza Strip during his speech to the UN General Assembly.
“It is in this inequality … that we find the logic of the mass destruction unleashed by the climate crisis and the logic of the bombs dropped by a criminal like Netanyahu on Gaza.”
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A large group of Columbia University students gathered at the university gates on the first day of the academic semester, reigniting protests that began last year in opposition to the ongoing genocide in Gaza. The students called for an academic and economic boycott of Israel and urged their peers to boycott the first day of classes in response to the destruction of universities in Gaza according to the Quds News Network.
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United States Congressman Jamaal Bowman of New York says:
“I am disgusted that we are allowing the man (Benjamin Netanyahu) who is responsible for ripping families apart and killing Israeli and Palestinian civilians to be given a platform before Congress to try and win support and funding for his indiscriminate bombing campaign.”
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The UN chief, Friday, appealed to everyone to protect the United Nations Works and Relief Agency for Palestine Refugees and its staff, saying there is “no alternative to UNRWA”.
“My appeal to everyone is this: Protect UNRWA, protect UNRWA staff, and protect UNRWA’s mandate – including through funding,” Secretary-General Antonio Guterres told a pledging conference at the UN headquarters in New York aimed at increasing contributions to the UN agency that looks after Palestinian refugrees.
“Without the necessary support and financing to UNRWA, Palestine refugees will lose a critical lifeline and the last ray of hope for a better future,” he said according to Anadolu news.
Guterres said it is the time to “bring an end to this terrible war, starting with an immediate humanitarian ceasefire in Gaza and an immediate and unconditional release of all hostages.
Ultimately, only a political solution can bring an end to this conflict – one that realizes a vision of two States – Israel and Palestine – living side by side in peace and security, with Jerusalem as the capital of both states,” he said.
Speaking at the same conference, UNRWA’s head Philippe Lazzarini said the agency is “staggering under the weight of relentless attack in Gaza”.
“ Gaza is decimated. More than two million people are trapped in a living hell. They have been displaced repeatedly across a ravaged and increasingly lawless territory. Children and women are bearing the brunt of this brutal war. Acute food insecurity is claiming the lives of children and severely affecting women who often eat last and least,” he told the pledging conference.
He recalled that 195 UNRWA workers were killed in Israeli attacks and nearly 190 installations damaged or destroyed, killing more than 500 people seeking UN protection.
Lazzarini said UNRWA is appealing for $1.2 billion for the occupied Palestinian territory emergency to cover critical humanitarian needs until the end of the year.
“This appeal, and the emergency appeal for Syria, Lebanon and Jordan are less than 20 percent funded,” he continued, the Turkish news agency stated.
Riyad Mansour, Palestine’s UN envoy, told the conference that the past nine months have been “long,” “painful,” and “harrowing”.
“There is nowhere safe for our refugees to turn in Gaza, as the Secretary General has indicated, not even under the UN flag, as schools continue to be targeted and bombed by the Israeli occupying forces in one attack after another, adding to the casualties, destruction and the traumas forced upon our people, 40,000 Palestinian children,” Mansour said.
