UNRWA's cashflows to turn negative next month, chief says

Major donors suspended funding to UNRWA following allegations that staff participated in Hamas's October 7 terror attack.

 UNRWA COMMISSIONER-GENERAL Philippe Lazzarini addresses the Global Refugee Forum, in Geneva, in December. (photo credit: JEAN-GUY PYTHON/REUTERS)
UNRWA COMMISSIONER-GENERAL Philippe Lazzarini addresses the Global Refugee Forum, in Geneva, in December.
(photo credit: JEAN-GUY PYTHON/REUTERS)

UNRWA, the UN agency for Palestinians, faces a cash crunch next month and its financial problems will accelerate in April if funding suspended by a number of countries does not resume, the head of the agency said on Thursday.

"We will hit a negative cashflow as from March and then it will be accelerated in April unless this frozen contribution is unlocked," UNRWA head Philippe Lazzarini told Irish national broadcaster RTE before a meeting in Dublin with the country's foreign minister.

Negative cash flow is when an organization or business has more money outgoing than incoming, impacting its ability to sustain itself.

Israel has said UNRWA, which has worked within Palestinian territories for more than 70 years, is not fit for purpose and major donors have suspended funding after allegations that UNRWA's Palestinian employees were suspected of involvement in the Oct. 7 Hamas attack on Israel that started the Gaza war.

 An Israeli soldier walks in what the military described as a Hamas command tunnel running partly under UNRWA headquarters, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas, in the Gaza Strip (credit: DYLAN MARTINEZ/REUTERS)
An Israeli soldier walks in what the military described as a Hamas command tunnel running partly under UNRWA headquarters, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas, in the Gaza Strip (credit: DYLAN MARTINEZ/REUTERS)

UNRWA schools and facilities have a track record of celebrating terrorism and spreading antisemitic ideologies, according to various reports by UN Watch. 

Weapons belonging to Hamas have also been located within UNRWA schools and a large Hamas tunnel was found below UNRWA's Gaza headquarters.

Lazzarini said earlier this week that calls for UNRWA to be dismantled were short-sighted and terminating its mandate would deepen the humanitarian crisis in Gaza.