The Palestinian Embassy on Tuesday thanked India as it released the first tranche of USD 2.5 million to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) as part of its annual contribution of USD 5 million for the year 2024-2025.
We express our heartfelt thanks and appreciation to the Government of India for releasing the first tranche of USD 2.5 million as part of its annual contribution of USD 5 million for the year 2024-2025 to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East, the embassy said.
We also followed with great interest India’s pledge of support to UNRWA during the UNRWA Conference held in New York and announced that in addition to financial assistance, New Delhi would also provide medicines to UNRWA upon request.
This Indian assistance and this pledge is an important step towards supporting and strengthening the role of UNRWA in the face of efforts by the Israeli Government to target its role and existence.
While we appreciate the Indian contribution to UNRWA, we believe that this assistance, whether financial or medical, is a vital part of the support we provide to the Palestinian people in various fields, which we hope to enhance during the next phase, as it is more urgently needed due to the Israeli war on Gaza, which has created a new and dangerous reality.
Approximately 2.2 million Palestinians lived in the Gaza Strip, an area of 365 square kilometers, representing approximately 41% of Palestine’s population. The vast majority of this population (approximately 66%) are refugees, with approximately 2 million Palestinians living in the Gaza Strip on the eve of the Israeli occupation aggression.
Meanwhile, the Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) is facing Israeli plans to target the UN foundation body that handles more than 6 million Palestinian refugees and provides services to them in its five areas of operation (the Gaza Strip, the West Bank, Jordan, Syria and Lebanon).
We hope that India, through its bilateral relations with the pillars of the international community and through its influential position in many important political and economic blocs and groupings around the world, will work to preserve UNRWA and strengthen its status and role for which it was established in 1949, and thwart Israel’s attempts to replace it with other institutions.
UNRWA’s importance to Palestinians goes beyond access to vital services, as they see its existence as linked to the protection of their rights as refugees, in particular their hope to return to their homes from which they or their ancestors were expelled during the Nakba.
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