UN World Food Programme says it cannot replace UNRWA in Gaza

The World Food Programme (WFP) cannot serve as a replacement for the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) in the Gaza Strip, the head of the WFP Berlin office told German media.

"We cannot replace the important functions of the UNRWA in Gaza, such as the administration of emergency shelters, schools and health centres," Martin Frick told German media group Redaktionsnetzwerk Deutschland (RND) in comments published on Saturday.

Earlier in the week, the Israeli parliament approved controversial bills restricting the operations of the agency in the Gaza Strip.

Frick said that UNRWA is the backbone of humanitarian aid in the Gaza Strip and ensures "nutrition, protection and medical care for a population that is experiencing inhumanity."

Israel has said that, once its UNRWA ban comes into force in around three months, it will ensure humanitarian aid for the Gaza Strip with the help of other organizations.

Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman Oren Marmorstein told dpa that the country would continue to work with UN agencies such as the WFP, the UN Children's Fund and the World Health Organization.

Frick told the RND that the humanitarian crisis in the Gaza Strip was beyond comprehension and required a comprehensive response in which UNRWA played a central role. "Banning UNWRA would deprive those struggling for survival of their last resource."

Israel has long been on bad terms with UNRWA, the main humanitarian aid provider in the Gaza Strip. It accuses the agency, which was established in 1949, of having been infiltrated by the Palestinian militant organization Hamas and says several UNRWA employees were involved in the attacks on October 7, 2023.