Attacks on UNRWA undermine the world’s collective efforts to save Palestinian lives

Reacting to the attacks on the headquarters of the United Nations agency for Palestine refugees (UNRWA) offices by Israeli government forces, Jamil Sawalmeh, Country Director of ActionAid Palestine, said: 

“We are horrified by the Government of Israel’s relentless destruction, carried out with total impunity. Attacking UNRWA is tantamount to bulldozing the world’s efforts to sustain Palestinian life. The Israeli officials’ genocidal rhetoric that has accompanied these demolitions leaves no room for doubt.

“UN Member States cannot claim ignorance or powerlessness. The tools to pressure the Government of Israel - to impose consequences, enforce the law, and protect civilians and humanitarian institutions exist.  

“This is the time to act. We need a real demonstration of political will. What is being permitted today in Palestine, and against UNRWA, sets a precedent everywhere. Any international institution painstakingly created to protect life, dignity, and basic human rights can be dismantled.”

“Israel’s escalation and open defiance of international law appear to have no limits. The question before the world is: when will governments act to stop it?”

ActionAid urges every UN Member State to abide by its moral and legal obligations and to use its full diplomatic, political, economic, and legal authority to end Israel’s crimes and the impunity that enables them.

Jamil added that, 

“When Palestinians are attacked, the world offers silence—or, at best, words of solidarity. When humanitarian organisations are attacked, the response is more silence, or verbal condemnation without consequence. But words have never stopped crimes, and they will not stop the documented, livestreamed atrocities being committed day after day across the occupied Palestinian territory.”