On February 1, ** spokesperson Wang Wenbin presided over a regular press conference.
A reporter asked: Yesterday, the United Nations Inter-Agency Standing Committee, composed of the WHO, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, the United Nations Human Rights Office and other United Nations specialized agencies and relevant non-governmental organizations, collectively issued a statement, saying that the suspension of funds by relevant countries to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) would have disastrous consequences, and asked these countries to reconsider their decisions. The statement called on the world to "not abandon the people of Gaza." Do you have any comment?
Wang Wenbin's data map. Source: **
Wang Wenbin said that the current round of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict has been delayed for nearly four months, and the humanitarian disaster in the Gaza Strip is unprecedented. In the current situation, there is no second option to de-escalate the crisis except for a ceasefire and an end to the fighting; There are no more urgent priorities than the protection of civilians. The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East has played an indispensable and irreplaceable role in alleviating the humanitarian situation in Gaza. Data show that two thirds of the more than 2 million people in the Gaza Strip have benefited from UNRWA. Ensuring the proper and orderly functioning of the Agency's work is a matter of continuity of humanitarian work, of the basic livelihood of the people of Gaza and of the last hope of the refugees on the verge of despair.
On January 29, local time, in Deir al-Ballah, the Gaza Strip, displaced Palestinians gathered in a school run by the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East to receive assistance. Source: Visual China.
Wang Wenbin said: We have noted that the United Nations has launched an investigation and taken corresponding measures in response to the allegations that UNRWA staff were involved in the attack on October 7 last year. UN Secretary-General António Guterres said UNRWA was the "backbone" of all humanitarian operations in the Gaza Strip. We support independent, impartial and objective investigations by the United Nations. At the same time, it is important to avoid collective punishment of the people of Gaza.
We call on the international community, in particular the major donor countries, to put the lives of the people in Gaza first and to reconsider the decision to discontinue funding and to continue to support the Agency's work. Wang Wenbin said that the Agency's work must not be completely denied because of the actions of individual individuals, that the people of Gaza must not be allowed to suffer additional collective punishment, and that the humanitarian situation in Gaza must not be allowed to worsen.