Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has secretly asked the United States not to cut UNRWA’s funding to prevent the further deterioration of the humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip.
A confidential report revealed in Tel Aviv on Monday said that several months ago, the Israeli government presented its final position to the US administration - which was considering a new policy on UNRWA’s status and activities – asking it not to cut the funds allocated to UNRWA in order to reduce the probability of a slide towards a violent confrontation with Gaza.
US President Donald Trump’s administration announced earlier this year that it was cutting its budget for the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA).
According to sources in Washington, the administration will announce in the coming weeks its decisions regarding the future of its support and dealing with UNRWA.
Netanyahu has said in the past that he believed that UNRWA must be dissolved, pointing out that the affairs of Palestinian refugees must be transferred to the United Nations refugee agency.
