UNITED NATIONS, Nov. 13 (Xinhua) -- The UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) is facing a dire financial situation, with a shortfall between the last quarter of 2025 and the first quarter of 2026 at approximately 200 million U.S. dollars, the UNRWA chief said Thursday.
Addressing the UN General Assembly Fourth Committee, UNRWA Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini said that despite the steady implementation of austerity and cost control measures amounting to 150 million dollars in 2025 and strict cashflow management, severe deficit and cashflow crises are jeopardizing the viability of the agency's operations.
Unlike in previous years, the projected income in the first quarter of 2026 is too low to absorb a large deficit from 2025, Lazzarini said.
"In the absence of a significant influx of new funding, the delivery of critical services to millions of Palestine refugees across the region will be compromised," he said.
The viability of political plans for Gaza depends on successful stabilization and recovery, which requires rapidly scaling up humanitarian assistance and reinstating critical public services, he stressed.
According to Lazzarini, UNRWA today delivers 40 percent of all primary healthcare in the Gaza Strip, with its "unrivaled" delivery capacity of 12,000-strong workforce and deep reserves of community trust.
He said that UNRWA is providing some 14,000 medical consultations each day; bolstering public health through immunization campaigns, nutrition screenings, water quality testing and pest control campaigns; conducting in-person learning for more than 40,000 children; and supporting nearly 300,000 children through online learning platforms.
However, UNRWA's operations continue to be undermined by political attacks and precarious finances, said Lazzarini, pointing to the Israeli Knesset's adoption of legislation in 2024 that forcibly removed UNRWA international staff from the occupied Palestinian territory and blocked the entry of its supplies into Gaza, and a "virulent disinformation campaign" that has tarnished the agency's reputation and strangled funding for its vital work.
"Curtailing or ending UNRWA's services will have grave consequences for the region," he said, urging UN member states to take concrete steps to delineate UNRWA's role within a time-bound political process and to fully finance the provision of essential services until that process is complete.
"To support the Agency is to invest in a political path forward, and to stand in true solidarity with all those committed to a lasting peace," Lazzarini said. ■
