New Delhi: The Palestinian embassy to India has thanked New Delhi for its contribution of US $ 2.5 million to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East, noting that the move is an important step to fight Israel’s attempts to ban the primary relief agency in the region.
The Israeli parliament passed two bills last month banning the UNRWA from Israeli territory. Israel’s yearlong strikes on Gaza have been compared to a genocide and has led to the death of over 44,000 people officially, many of them children.
In a press release on November 19, the Palestinian charge’ d’affaires to New Delhi, Abed Elrazeg Abu Jazer expressed “sincere gratitude and appreciation” for the Indian government, and said, “We believe that this Indian contribution is a clear confirmation of its continued support to UNRWA services as the founding mandated in 1949.”
The $ 2.5 million is half of India’s promised annual contribution of $ 5 million for 2024-25.
This September, India notably abstained from voting in a widely supported United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) resolution calling for an end to Israel’s occupation of Gaza and the West Bank within a year.
Abu Jazer added: “We consider that this financial contribution is an important step to undermine all Israeli attempts to eliminate UNRWA and ban its activity in the Palestinian territories.”
The release came on the day when leaders of the G20 countries, in Brazil’s Rio de Janeiro, called for a “comprehensive ceasefire in Gaza in line with UN Security Council Resolution n. 2735 and in Lebanon that enables citizens to return safely to their homes on both sides of the Blue Line”.
It also called for removing roadblocks to delivering humanitarian aid.
A report on The Guardian on the same day (November 19) said that Norway will ask the International Court of Justice for an advisory opinion condemning Israel for ceasing cooperation with the UNRWA.
The Palestinian release said that Palestinian people, “who have real historical ties with India, appreciate the Indian contribution to UNRWA and look forward to continued Indian support at all political and material levels until the realization of their aspirations for freedom, independence, and the establishment of their independent state.”
