UN Secretary-General António Guterres has called for full funding of the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA), as the agency faces an $80 million funding shortfall that threatens its vital humanitarian operations for Palestinian refugees.

“I can tell you that the secretary-general is fully committed to defending UNRWA in the exercise of its fundamental role in support of Palestinian refugees,” Spokesman for the Secretary-General, Stephane Dujarric, told supporters on Friday.

“He once again calls for UNRWA’s vital work to be fully funded,” he noted.

Dujarric's comments followed an UNRWA statement on Thursday that highlighted the agency's unprecedented financial strain, declining global donations, and increasingly difficult operating conditions that threaten its ability to provide essential services.

Israeli occupation forces raid UNRWA training center near East al-Quds, detain staff

Israeli occupation forces have raided the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) Qalandia Training Center in the Qalandia refugee camp, north of occupied East al-Quds.

The organization reported a current cash-flow shortfall of $80 million, with ongoing financial obligations and accumulated debts creating long-term sustainability issues.

UNRWA stated that it continues to provide education, health, relief and social services to registered Palestinian refugees in its five areas of operation – Gaza, the occupied West Bank, including East al-Quds, Jordan, Lebanon and Syria.

In late August, UNRWA chief Christian Saunders said Israeli forces’ raid on the last remaining facility run by the UN agency in the East al-Quds and the seizure of its training center are part of the Tel Aviv regime’s attempt to eliminate the presence of the agency in the occupied Palestinian territories.

He underscored that UNRWA is “not planning on going anywhere.”

“If UNRWA is defunded and eliminated, then they are hoping that the issue of the refugees, the Palestine refugees, will go away,” Saunders said at the time. “Which means that the right of return, reparations, and compensation would go away as well.”

Israel has banned UNRWA from operating in the occupied territories after claiming that some of its staff were involved in the al-Aqsa Flood operation of October 2023. Despite repeated requests from UNRWA for evidence supporting these claims, the Israeli regime has not responded.

The UN agency has faced deepening financial turmoil since Israel launched a sustained defamation campaign against it. Israel has already barred dozens of international humanitarian organizations from operating in the besieged Gaza Strip and the occupied territories.