UNRWA stands to lose $65 million, documents show

The United Nations Relief and Works Agency, Gaza's main aid agency, will lose $65 million by the end of February as donor cuts begin to take effect, according to internal accounting documents reviewed by The New York Times.

At least 18 states or institutions, including many of the agency's biggest backers, have announced they are suspending their donations to the agency, known as UNRWA, after allegations emerged last month that several employees took part in the Hamas-led attack on Israel on October 7. .

It will take some time for some of these suspensions to take effect. Countries make their donations intermittently throughout the year, and some countries would not make their payments for several months. For example, the United States had already paid the first of the three installments in January and the second American payment was not due until May, according to the documents.

But Finland missed a $5.4 million payment in January, and three more countries – Germany, Japan and Sweden – will miss payments worth almost $60 million over the course of February.

Because UNRWA does not have significant reserves, the shortfall means the organization will have no funds of its own to pay its 30,000 workers in the Middle East, including 13,000 in Gaza, in March, UNRWA spokeswoman Tamara Alrifai said.

The agency could bridge the gap by applying for a loan from a centralized UN reserve, Ms Alrifai said.

UNRWA's operation plays a crucial role in the humanitarian crisis in Gaza. More than 80 percent of Gaza's 2.2 million residents have been displaced by the war, and more than half the population is now sheltering in repurposed schools and centers run by the organization.

UNRWA also monitors the distribution of the meager aid supplies that arrive in Gaza daily by truck. Aid agencies are already warning of famine amid major food shortages and the collapse of the health care system.

Since donor countries began suspending their funding, the agency has received an unusually high number of private donations from individual citizens seeking to fill the gap. In the five days after the allegations came to light, Ms. Alrifai said, UNRWA received about $5 million from private donors — more than the organization would normally receive in a month from individuals.

But the donations are not enough to fund the agency for more than a few days: it has an annual budget of more than $1.5 billion, Ms. Alrifai said.