The Palestinian Ministry of Health in Gaza announced on Sunday that the number of Palestinians killed in the ongoing Israeli genocide in the Strip since October 7 has now reached 41,595, with 96,251 injured as the war marks its 359th day.
Additionally, the Ministry stated that the Israeli occupation continued to commit massacres against families in the Strip, killing 9 people and injuring 41.
It noted that thousands of victims of the aggression remain trapped under the rubble and on roads inaccessible to ambulance and civil defense crews, as the occupation continues to prevent rescue teams from reaching them.
UN chief says ‘no alternative to UNRWA’, urges support
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres encouraged last Thursday world leaders to strengthen funding for the UN Agency for Palestinian Refugees (UNRWA), which offers crucial services to almost 6 million people, according to Anadolu.
On the margins of the UN General Assembly sessions in New York, Jordan and Sweden co-organized a high-level conference in support of UNRWA, during which Guterres described the situation in the Gaza Strip as “beyond imagination”.
Guterres stated that the people in Gaza are in a “living hell that somehow gets even worse by the day.”
He highlighted that “there is no alternative to UNRWA” and asked all UN member states to work across all fronts to intensify support for the Agency.
Guterres stated that UNRWA “is not a sustainable long-term solution to the plight of Palestine refugees” and reiterated his call for an immediate humanitarian ceasefire in Gaza, captives release, and a “two-state” political solution between Palestine and “Israel” with occupied al-Quds serving as the two sides’ capital.
Until then, he argued, “UNRWA remains indispensable,” reiterating the “full support” of states.
The UN head stated that 2 million Palestinians are squeezed into a tiny space, living among “lakes of sewage, piles of rubbish, and mountains of rubble” and cautioned that “the only certainty is that tomorrow will be worse.”
UNRWA is seen as a beacon of hope amid the bleak situation, according to Guterres.
The Agency is experiencing enormous operational and political problems, he maintained, with “222 UNRWA colleagues killed, many with entire families, several in the line of duty” and the “highest death toll in UN history.”
Guterres cited Israeli “campaigns that discredit the Agency’s life-saving work” and the Knesset’s decision to declare UNRWA a “terrorist organization”, citing that “in the face of the catastrophic conditions, UNRWA perseveres.”
“Virtually all donors have reversed their funding suspensions,” he said. “This underscores the consensus that UNRWA’s role across the West Bank and the region is vital.”
