Türkiye on Sunday said it was concerned by the decision of some countries to suspend funding for the United Nations agency for Palestinians and urged them to reconsider their move.
In a statement, the Turkish Foreign Ministry said the suspension of funding, following allegations by Israel that a dozen of its 13,000 staff in Gaza were involved in Palestinian militant group Hamas' Oct. 7 attack on Israel, primarily harmed Palestinian civilians.
"Working under very difficult conditions, the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) meets the vital needs of millions of Palestine refugees. Since Oct. 7, more than 150 UNRWA personnel have been killed by Israel in Gaza," it added.
Several key donor countries, including the U.S., U.K., Italy, Australia and Canada, have said they will halt funding to the U.N. agency for Palestinian refugees following Israel's allegations that staff members took part in Hamas's Oct. 7 attack.
Other nations, such as Ireland and Norway, have welcomed an investigation into the allegations but said they would not cut off aid.
The UNRWA has fired a dozen people and promised a thorough investigation into the claims, which were not specified, while Israel has vowed to stop the agency's work in Gaza after the war.
The head of UNRWA, Philippe Lazzarini, vowed to hold "accountable, including through criminal prosecution," any employee found to have been involved in "acts of terror."
U.N. chief Antonio Guterres has promised an urgent independent review of UNRWA but also pleaded for donor states to "guarantee the continuity" of the agency for the sake of "the desperate populations" it serves.
On Sunday, the head of the U.N.'s World Health Organization (WHO) also called on donors not to suspend financial support "at this critical moment." It warned the move would "only hurt the people of Gaza who desperately need support."
The Israeli accusations are not the first of their kind. Since the start of the Gaza war, Israel has accused UNRWA employees of working for Hamas in what was considered a "justification" for attacking the organization's schools and facilities in the strip, which houses tens of thousands of displaced people, according to analysts.
The accusations came just after the International Court of Justice (ICJ) on Friday found South Africa's claim that Israel is committing genocide plausible. The court issued an interim order urging Israel to stop obstructing aid deliveries into Gaza and to improve the humanitarian situation.
Flouting the ICJ ruling, Israel is continuing its onslaught on the Gaza Strip, where at least 26,422 Palestinians have been killed, mostly women and children, and 65,087 others injured since Oct. 7, according to Palestinian health authorities. Israel says nearly 1,200 people were killed in the Hamas attack.
The Israeli offensive has left 85% of Gaza's population internally displaced amid acute shortages of food, clean water and medicine, while 60% of the enclave's infrastructure was damaged or destroyed, according to the U.N.
