The Palestinian Authority said the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) needs "maximum support" after some countries announced they would suspend funding over Israel's claims that some staff members of the U.N. agency were allegedly involved in the Oct. 7 attack.
"We need the maximum support for this international organisation and not stopping support and assistance to it," the Palestinian Authority's minister for civilian affairs, Hussein Al-Sheikh, said on X, formerly Twitter on Saturday.
The decision by some countries to cease support for the U.N. relief agency for Palestinians (UNRWA) entails great political and relief risks, Hussein al-Sheikh, secretary general of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) said on Saturday on X.
"We call on countries that announced the cessation of their support for UNRWA to immediately reverse their decision," he said.
Palestinian resistance group Hamas condemned Israel's campaign against U.N. institutions on Saturday, calling it a "hollow accusation" aimed at preventing them from providing relief to people in the Gaza Strip, "who are subjected to genocide."
"The latest is the hollow accusation against the World Health Organization of what Israel called collusion with the Hamas movement, by repeating the false claim about the movement's use of hospitals in military operations," Hamas said in a statement.
The Palestinian resistance group also condemned Israel's accusations against the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) with the aim of "cutting off its funding and depriving our people of their right to the services of these international agencies."
Israel claimed that Hamas is using hospitals in the Gaza Strip for military purposes to justify its attacks and bombings, even though they are sheltering displaced people, while the Palestinian resistance movement has repeatedly denied such allegations.
Hamas called on the United Nations and international institutions "not to yield to the Israeli threats and blackmails."
The group stressed "the importance of the role of these (U.N.) agencies in providing relief to our people, and documenting the crimes of the occupation (Israeli forces)."
The WHO on Friday rejected Israel's accusations of "collusion" with Hamas and "turning a blind eye" to the suffering of Israeli hostages in Gaza.
Since Oct. 7, at least 220 violations by Israel against U.N.-run institutions have been documented in Gaza.
Israel has launched relentless air and ground attacks on the Gaza Strip since a cross-border attack by Hamas which Tel Aviv says killed 1,200 people.
At least 26,083 Palestinians, mostly women and children have since been killed, and 64,487 injured, according to Palestinian health authorities.
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.
Already devastated by Israel's yearslong blockade, the Gaza Strip currently faces a dire humanitarian situation as over 800,000 people in Gaza face death by starvation and thirst.
Truck entry to southern areas of Gaza has been limited since the Oct. 7 Hamas incursion that killed 1,140 people.
