Saudi Arabia on Thursday unveiled the creation of an emergency international coalition to provide financial support to the Palestinian Authority, pledging $90 million toward the effort.
Speaking at a news conference in New York on the sidelines of the 80th U.N. General Assembly, Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan said the coalition would provide direct financial support to the PA "with a number of important partners."
He also said that Saudi Arabia will contribute $90 million for the effort.
Meanwhile, the head of the U.N. agency for Palestinian refugees said Thursday that UNRWA will be central to Gaza’s reconstruction once a cease-fire is reached, stressing the urgent need to end Israel’s war on the besieged enclave.
“UNRWA is present in Gaza with 12,000 staff right now. On a daily basis, against all odds, our staff continue to provide primary health,” Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini told AFP in an interview on the sidelines of high-level U.N. meetings in New York.
He described UNRWA as “the one with the best expertise and workforce when it comes to primary health and to education,” adding that the agency is a “key asset for the international community.”
“The most difficult thing today is to reach the cease-fire. This is what we need. After that, there are a number of plans on the table to consolidate it,” Lazzarini said. He pointed to the New York Declaration, recently endorsed by more than 140 countries, as a road map not only for Gaza’s reconstruction but also for advancing a two-state solution.
Lazzarini welcomed commitments by Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, who told the U.N. General Assembly that a reformed Palestinian Authority was ready to govern Gaza after a cease-fire. “These are important commitments. We are talking about reform. This is exactly what is needed,” Lazzarini said, noting UNRWA’s role in building capacity for Palestinian institutions.
Despite political pressure and attempts to sideline the agency, Lazzarini said UNRWA will inevitably be part of administering postwar Gaza. “We have a reservoir of teachers, and I really believe that on the day of a cease-fire it should be our common priority to bring back the hundreds of thousands of children into an education system if we want to avoid sowing the seeds of more violence,” he said.
He criticized efforts by Washington and Tel Aviv to bypass UNRWA with parallel aid structures, describing the so-called Gaza Humanitarian Foundation as “a death trap” and “an abomination.” “Since this foundation started in Gaza to replace the broader U.N. response, that’s also when hunger started to spread, starvation started to deepen, to the extent that we had to declare famine,” he said.
The World Health Organization has warned of famine in northern Gaza and documented hundreds of attacks on health facilities since October 2023. UNRWA, which before the war provided health care, education and welfare services across Gaza, continues to be the main lifeline for the territory’s population.
