UNRWA Warns ‘Very Bad’ Financial Health Expected to Worsen

Date: 04 February 2025 - 21:57

News ID: ۱۳۶۵۶۳

GENEVA (Dispatches) – The UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) on Tuesday said its financial health is “very bad” and warned that it is expected to worsen amid the anticipated decision of U.S. President Donald Trump to extend the halting of funding.
“When the executive order and if the executive order is issued, we will be able to comment on that. Having said that the financial health of UNRWA is very, very bad. It got worse over the past few months, and is expected to continue to worsen,” UNRWA Communications Director Juliette Touma said in a UN briefing in Geneva.
Touma noted that the agency is “not able to plan ahead too much.”
“In January, we were able to pay the salaries,” she said, but added, “It’s very, very difficult for us to have an understanding over the financial situation of the agency. And this is nothing new.”
The U.S. funding to the UNRWA was suspended in 2024 under the Joe Biden administration.
About the situation in the West Bank, she said that the agency is delivering its services to a degree possible across the occupied West Bank, including East Al-Quds, and that includes education and primary health care.
Large parts of the Jenin refugee camp in the occupied West Bank have been completely destroyed following a series of controlled detonations by Zionist troops, Touma said.
She added that as a result, all 30,000 residents had fled the camp as of Tuesday morning.
“The camp’s residents have endured the impossible,” she said.
Jenin has been a frequent flashpoint in the Zionist regime’s aggression, with the camp often subjected to military raids. The latest demolitions come amid escalating onslaught in the West Bank, which has seen a sharp increase in Israeli military operations since the start of the war in Gaza.