The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) is now headed for “dissolution”, the head of the agency, Philippe Lazzarini, warned yesterday in a letter to the president of the UN General Assembly.

“It is with deep regret that I must inform you today that the agency has reached the point of dissolution, following Israel’s repeated calls for it to be abolished and the freezing of donor funding at a time when the humanitarian needs in Gaza are unprecedented,” he said. Mr. Lazzarini in the letter, which he made public through X (the former Twitter).

“The agency’s ability to carry out the mandate given to it by General Assembly resolution 302 is now seriously threatened,” added the head of the UN agency for Palestine refugees.

UNRWA, which was established under UN Security Council resolution 302 in 1949, employs some 30,000 people in the occupied Palestinian territories, Lebanon, Jordan and Syria, where the agency mainly manages hospitals and schools.

The agency has come under fire after Israel said 12 of its employees were involved in the Oct. 7 attack by Hamas’ military arm from the Gaza Strip in southern Israel that killed more than 1,160 people, mostly civilians, according to with an AFP tally based on official Israeli data.

The UN immediately suspended the accused officials and an internal investigation began. At the same time, Secretary General Antonio Guterres commissioned an independent group chaired by the former French Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna with a mission to evaluate UNRWA and its “neutrality”.

Although “to date, Israel has not provided any evidence” to the agency about the alleged involvement of its workers in the attack, 16 countries have suspended their funding, totaling $450 million, said Philippe Lazzarini, warning that because of this, the service’s operations across the region will face a huge problem “from March”.

“I fear that we are on the brink of a monumental disaster, with serious consequences for peace, security and human rights in the region,” he underlined.

Military operations in the Gaza Strip have killed nearly 29,500 people, according to the health ministry of Hamas, the Islamist movement in power in the tiny Palestinian enclave, which remains besieged and battered relentlessly.

Top UN officials keep stressing that UNRWA is irreplaceable in the Gaza Strip, where it is the backbone of humanitarian aid.

As “for decades” the primarily humanitarian organization “fills the void created by the absence of peace and even a peace process”, Philippe Lazzarini called for the “political support” of the United Nations General Assembly to ensure UNRWA’s survival and “transition to a long-overdue political solution” for peace between Israel and the Palestinians.

It also suggested reforming the way the service is currently funded — which depends on voluntary contributions.

For her part, Katrin Colonna said that the “delicate” mission assigned to the team she was put in charge of is to ensure that international donors “restore their trust” in the service.

“My aim is to deliver a report that will be rigorous, based on evidence and will help UNRWA fulfill its mandate,” the former French foreign minister said during a press conference, clarifying that she meant making “recommendations”. in the text he will deliver by April 20.