Arab donations down 90% since last year, UNRWA head says
Philippe Lazzarini told the League of Arab States that contributions from the region were just 3% of all the agency’s contributions this year.
Philippe Lazzarini, director de la UNRWA
Arab country contributions to the U.N. Relief and Works Agency are down 90% in 2025 compared to 2024, according to Philippe Lazzairini, UNRWA commissioner-general.
“This year, financial contributions from the region amount to just 3% of all contributions received by the agency,” Lazzairini said at a League of Arab States Council meeting on Thursday in Cairo.
In 2018, Arab donors provided about 25% of the U.N. agency’s funding.
“I am convinced that this is not the message the region wants to convey” to those whom the global body considers refugees, Lazzarini said. “Words of solidarity must translate into matching funding to make a tangible difference.”
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Lazzarini has said for years that there are funding shortfalls. UNRWA considers Palestinians who fled or were forced from their homes during the Arab-initiated wars of 1948 and 1967 and their descendents to be refugees in perpetuity.
Earlier this year, António Guterres, U.N. secretary-general, requested a strategic assessment of UNRWA’s mandate.
An internal U.N. probe found that it was “likely or highly likely” that at least nine UNRWA staffers took part in the Oct. 7 attacks.
Israel says the numbers are higher and that ties between Hamas and UNRWA run much deeper.
Washington suspended UNRWA funding during the investigation and has yet to restore it, amid bipartisan congressional approval for maintaining the freeze.
US-backed Gaza aid group says it found boy alive; former contractor said Israeli troops killed him
Aguilar stated that Israeli soldiers killed a boy, whom he identified as “Amir,” in a “wall of bullets” on May 28 at a foundation distribution site. The Daily Wire reported on Thursday that the boy—whose name is Abdul Rahim Muhammad Hamden, and who goes by Aboud—is fine.
The publication published video footage of the boy, who is “in a safe, undisclosed location after a false tale about his death was spread by an American contractor,” it reported.
“After interviews with family members and weeks of detective work, the boy, who actually goes by the name Abood, was found living with his birth mother after he abruptly left his stepmother’s home in July,” per the Daily Wire. “The child’s identity was confirmed through biometrics, and he remained in possession of the shirt he wore in Aguilar’s viral video.”
© JNS
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