RAMALLAH: An UNRWA official said Thursday that the Agency’s services were adversely affected in the refugee camps targeted by the Israeli aggression.

Speaking in an interview with the Palestinian News and Information Agency (WAFA), Deputy Director of UNRWA Affairs in the West Bank, Roland Friedrich, stated that the agency was noting with grave concern the humanitarian situation in the northern West Bank refugee camps following the Israeli large-scale offensive on the refugee camps in Jenin, Tulkarm, Tubas and Nablus, which resulted in the killing of 17 Palestinians and injuring scores and caused extensive destruction of infrastructure.

He called on the occupation authorities to comply with international law, avoid targeting civilians and inviolability of UNRWA premises and facilities.

He added that the recent frequent Israeli incursions into the northern West Bank refugee camps have directly affected not only refugees but also the agency’s ability to provide education, healthcare, social protection and inf
rastructure services to over 400,000 refugees in the whole West Bank.

He elaborated that following the current Israeli aggression, the agency has been compelled to halt its services in several camps affected by the aggression, while stressing that the agency, in cooperation with UN partners and humanitarian NGOs, remains committed to provide all services to the extent allowed by the security situation on the ground.

Commenting on Israeli officials’ calls to displace and ‘temporarily evacuate’ Palestinians from their homes in the West Bank in the same manner as in the Gaza Strip, Friedrich said that they are very worrying for the UN institutions and at the international community level.

He ruled out that the financial instability affecting the UNRWA’s budget would overshadow the basic services provided to Palestinian refugees, affirming that the continuation of the functioning of the agency serves as a factor for stability in the region, requiring sustaining funds for the agency.

Commenting on the unpreced
ented efforts aimed at undermining the work of and even liquidating the agency, including the Knesset’s bills to close the agency and designate it a ‘terrorist organization’, he stressed that the agency remains committed to neutrality and forms a part of the solution in the region, and does not constitute a reason for the ongoing conflict.

Highlighting the agency’s vital polio vaccine campaign in Gaza for more than 640,000 children under the age of 10, he said that such a campaign requires the minimum calm on the ground and creating the favourable conditions for the immediate commencement of the campaign.

Source: Palestine News and Information Agency – WAFA