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Donation Drive: Global Research Is Committed to the “Unspoken Truth”

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A United Nations humanitarian agency warned Thursday that over a dozen countries that have suspended their financial contributions are risking the “sheer survival” of most people in the Gaza Strip amid Israel’s war on the besieged Palestinian enclave.

The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) said in a statement that “the colossal humanitarian needs of over 2 million people in Gaza now face the risk of deepening” due to recent donor suspensions over Israeli allegations that a handful of agency staff members participated in the Hamas-led attacks on October 7.

The number of countries cutting off funding—including the United States—has grown over the past week even though the 30,000-employee agency swiftly fired nine workers and launched an investigation into the the Israeli government’s claims.

While cease-fire talks are ongoing, Israel’s nearly four-month assault on Gaza—condemned as genocide in a South African-led case at the International Court of Justice—continues, with the death toll topping 27,000 on Thursday and thousands more injured or missing in the bombed and burned homes, hospitals, schools, mosques, shelters, and refugee camps.

In response to Israeli orders early in the U.S.-backed war, many Palestinians have fled northern Gaza. Thomas White, director of UNRWA affairs in Gaza and U.N. deputy humanitarian coordinator for the occupied Palestinian territory, explained Thursday that the agency has had limited access to the people who remain in the north.

“UNRWA received reports that people in the area are grinding bird feed to make flour. We continue to coordinate with the Israeli army to be able to go to the north, but this has been largely denied,” he said. “When our convoys are finally permitted to go to the area, people rush to the trucks to get food and often eat it on the spot.”

"Famine is around the corner. There are pockets of starvation & pockets of hunger- especially in the north of