UNRWA chief has no intention to resign over allegations, hopes EU will continue funding

euronews (in English)

UNRWA chief Pierre Lazzarini said on Monday he had no intention of resigning and hoped the EU would continue to fund his agency, after allegations staff members were involved in the Hamas attack on Israel.

Transcript

00:00 The head of the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees has said he hopes the

00:05 European Commission will keep funding their operations.

00:08 In a visit to Brussels on Monday, Filippo Lazzarini said it was critical the cash flow

00:12 to the organization continues.

00:14 The agency is investigating whether 12 of its employees took part in Hamas` October

00:19 7 attacks against Israel.

00:21 Israel has also alleged Hamas has tunnels under the agency`s headquarters in Gaza.

00:26 More than a dozen countries, including several EU member states, suspended funding worth

00:31 nearly 410 million euros.

00:40 The commission contribution is absolutely critical because it`s $82 million expected

00:47 beginning of March.

00:50 If we would have had no pause or freeze of funding, our cash flow would have been good

00:59 until the end of July.

01:01 Our cash flow will suffer as from now, as from the month of March.

01:06 It will be negative, expected negative 30 to 40 million in March, but then it will be

01:12 significantly negative as from April.

01:16 The conclusions from the investigation could take months to appear, but the EU`s chief

01:20 of diplomacy, Joseph Borrell, has hinted the European Commission could make some decisions

01:24 before that.

01:27 The bloc`s 27 countries will have to coordinate a decision on the agency, but Borrell says

01:31 the U.N. Agency for Palestine Refugees is irreplaceable.

01:36 If I have to look at the majority feeling, I think that the majority clearly is understanding

01:46 the fact that there is no alternative to support the Palestinian people that what we have in

01:52 place and has been in place for 70 years or more with Hamas and without Hamas.

02:00 So, I cannot imagine a magic wand to say that tomorrow someone will come and provide the

02:06 school to have a million young people.

02:08 Lazarini said that Israel`s operations in Rafah, near the border with Egypt, are already

02:13 disrupting the entrance of humanitarian aid.

02:15 Convoys are also being attacked due to the lack of local police protection.

02:20 While in Brussels, Lazarini also said for the first time that he would not resign against

02:24 repeated requests by the Israeli government.

02:26 For more UN videos visit: www.un.org/webcast

02:30 [whoosh]

02:31 (whooshing)

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