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Within its participation under item 7 of the 55th session of the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC), BADIL Resource Center for Palestinian Residency and Refugee Rights submitted a written statement that demonstrates how cutting funds to UNRWA now, further cripples its capacity to provide lifesaving services in the Gaza Strip in the midst of the Israeli genocidal war on the Gaza Strip, and essential services to Palestinian refugees in its other areas of operation.

The statement mainly highlights how the states’ decisions to suspend UNRWA funds serve Israel’s ongoing aim to eliminate Agency - and with it, the Palestinian refugee issue – and how it also contradicts the International Court of Justice’s provisional measures, constitutes the crime of collective punishment and a breach of States’ international obligations toward Palestinian refugees and internally displaced persons (IDPs).

Furthermore, to clearly address the root causes, including the chronic under funding of UNRWA and to ensure that the 2.3 million Palestinians in the Gaza Strip receive the lifesaving aid and assistance they are entitled to, BADIL called on States to fulfill their obligation to prevent Genocide by ensuring UNRWA has the both political and material needs to carry out its mandate, among other obligations.