UNRWA Chief Speaks at Arab League Ministerial Session

Cairo

Mr. Chair

Secretary-General of the League of Arab States, Mr. Fahmy,

Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen,

I am deeply grateful for the opportunity to address you today, at a moment of profound uncertainty for our region - and, above all, for the millions of Palestine Refugees whose lives and futures are being shaped by the decisions we take now.

Let me begin by expressing my deepest sympathy to all those who have suffered, and who continue to suffer, as a consequence of the conflicts that have engulfed our region.

Now let me turn to Gaza.

The ceasefire has brought a measure of relief. But for millions of people, the reality remains one of profound insecurity and uncertainty. Too many remain without adequate shelter, without sufficient access to basic services, and without a clear sense of what tomorrow will bring.

This cannot become the new normal.

As winter approaches, more than 90 per cent of Gaza's population remains without adequate shelter. Each day, some 40,000 cubic metres of sewage flows into the Mediterranean. Only around 3 per cent of cropland remains accessible and undamaged.

These are not simply statistics.

Behind every number is a child, a family, a human life - waiting for the international community to act.

Despite the considerable efforts to dismantle the Agency, UNRWA continues to serve Palestine Refugees - in Gaza and across the region.

We remain the largest humanitarian provider in Gaza, with more than 10,000 personnel on the ground and the capacity to deliver essential services at scale. More than 1.5 million people continue to rely on UNRWA for education, healthcare, water, sanitation and other essential services.

We have the infrastructure. We have the networks. We have the people.

But, most importantly, we have the trust of the community - trust built over more than seven decades of standing alongside Palestine Refugees through war, displacement and extraordinary hardship.

That trust cannot be created or recreated overnight.

It is an asset of immense value - today, in the humanitarian response, and tomorrow, in recovery and reconstruction.

To disregard these capabilities at a moment of such profound need would neither be practical nor responsible.

Excellencies,

Beyond Gaza, the situation in the occupied West Bank is also becoming increasingly untenable.

Rampant settler violence and the failure to provide effective protection to Palestinian communities is creating intolerable conditions of life.

In occupied East Jerusalem, the seizure of UNRWA premises - including our offices, schools and health centres - has effectively removed the Agency from the Holy City.

But removing UNRWA does not remove the rights of Palestine Refugees.

And it does not resolve the question of Palestine.

The status quo is, however, untenable.

And this brings us to a fundamental question - not simply about UNRWA, but about the international system itself.

The international order rests upon a principle that must remain universal:

International law applies to all.

If violations are met only with statements of concern, while meaningful action is absent, we risk weakening not only the rules themselves, but confidence in the institutions created to uphold them.

This cannot be the legacy we leave to our children and our grandchildren.

Excellencies,

Across the Occupied Palestinian Territory, and in Lebanon, Syria and Jordan, UNRWA continues to deliver.

But the Agency now faces an extraordinary financial crisis.

Our resources are rapidly being depleted. Without additional support, we will no longer be able to sustain the full range of services entrusted to us by the international community.

The future of UNRWA is, in very real respects, in your hands.

Without the necessary additional support in the next two months, we will be forced to suspend core services in the next two months.

The consequences will not be measured in accounting figures.

They will be measured in human lives.

Children deprived of education.

Families without access to healthcare.

Communities without essential water and sanitation services.

And potentially, consequences for regional stability that we cannot yet fully foresee.

I recognise that there is fatigue. I recognise that UNRWA has come before you year after year asking for support.

But I ask you not to allow that fatigue to define this moment.

Because this is not simply about UNRWA.

It is about the people we serve.

It is about the Palestinian children who deserve the opportunity to learn, families who deserve access to healthcare, and communities that deserve dignity and hope.

You supported UNRWA when I last stood before you in this chamber in 2020.

Today, I ask you to stand with us again.

Excellencies,

We have reached a moment when history is asking something of all of us.

It is asking whether we are prepared to translate our principles into action.

Whether we are prepared to defend the rules we have collectively established.

Ultimately, the question is whether we are prepared to safeguard the possibility of a political future in which Palestinians, Israelis, and all the peoples of the region can live side by side - in peace, in security, and with dignity.

We cannot continue to stand on the sidelines, watching events unfold and hoping that someone else will act.

Every day of inaction makes peace more difficult.

Every day allows the facts on the ground to become more deeply entrenched.

And if this paralysis continues, we risk reaching a point where Gaza and the West Bank can no longer provide the foundations for a viable Palestinian state.

The window of opportunity is narrowing. But it has not yet closed.

There is still an opportunity - and an obligation - to act.

To uphold international law.

To protect the rights and dignity of the Palestinian people.

To sustain the institutions that serve them.

And to preserve the possibility of a just and lasting peace.

This is not a call for charity.

It is a call for responsibility.

And when history looks back upon this moment, let it not say that we understood what was happening but lacked the courage to respond.

Let it instead say that, when the moment demanded leadership, we chose to lead.

When the moment demanded humanity, we chose humanity.

And when the future of millions was at stake, we chose to act.

Thank you.