New Delhi:

The Palestinian Embassy on Tuesday thanked India as it released the first tranche of USD 2.5 million to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) as a part of its annual contribution at USD 5 Million for the year 2024-2025.

The embassy said we extend our sincere thanks and appreciation to the Indian Government for releasing the first tranche of USD 2.5 million to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East as a part of its annual contribution at USD 5 Million for the year 2024-2025.

We also followed with great interest India’s pledge of support to UNRWA during the UNRWA conference held in New York and announced that in addition to financial assistance, New Delhi will provide medicines to UNRWA upon request, it said.

This Indian assistance and this pledge an important step to support and strengthen the role of UNRWA in the face of attempts to target its role and existence by the Israeli government

While we appreciate the Indian contribution to UNRWA, we believe that this assistance, whether financial or medical, constitutes an important part of the assistance provided to the Palestinian people in various fields, which we look forward to increasing during the next stage due to the urgent need due to the Israeli war on Gaza, which has created a new and dangerous reality.

About 2.2 million Palestinians were residing in the Gaza Strip an area of 365 km2, representing about 41% of the population of Palestine. Most of this population (about 66%) are refugees, about 2 million Palestinians left their homes out of about 2.2 million Palestinians who were residing in the Gaza Strip on the eve of the Israeli occupation aggression, the statement said.

Meanwhile, the Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) is facing Israeli plans to target the body of the United Nations Foundation, which witnesses the case of more than 6 million Palestinian refugees and provides services to them in its five areas of operation (Gaza Strip, West Bank, Jordan, Syria and Lebanon).

We hope that India, through its bilateral relationship with the pillars of the international community and through its effective position in many important political and economic blocs and groupings around the world, will work to preserve UNRWA and strengthen its status and role, for which it was founded in 1949, and that Israeli attempts to replace it with other institutions will fail.

The importance of UNRWA for Palestinians goes beyond access to vital services, as they see its existence as linked to the preservation of their rights as refugees, especially their hope to return to their homes from which they or their ancestors were expelled during the Nakba.

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