TOKYO: UNRWA Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini on Friday said the shortfall in funds after several countries stopped contributions amounted to more than $450 million and seriously affected the agency’s operations.

Several countries paused contributions to the United Nations Relief and Work Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East after it was alleged that some of its staff had aided Hamas in its attack on Israel on October 7 last year.

Lazzarini was asked by Arab News Japan if there was any impact by the cut off aid from Japan and others on the UNRWA. He said: “At the time, this amounted to more than $450 million for the Agency and in January basically I had very little visibility and I did not even know if I could go beyond February.”

Lazzarini made the remarks after a meeting was held at the Palestinian Embassy in Tokyo. Arab ambassadors attended the meeting. 

“Since a number of countries have now taken the decision to resume contributions to the agency, we are slightly in a better place today than we were in January, but we are still, I would say, hand to mouth without long-term visibility regarding contributions.”

Lazzarini said the decision by the United States to stop funding until March 2025 has created a big shortfall for the agency, and it will have to find other sources to compensate for the hole in their finances. He is hopeful that current donors might step up their contributions and he also has expectations of Arab countries.

“You have Saudi Arabia, you have UAE, you have Qatar, you have Kuwait – we have also received a contribution of $25 million from Iraq,” said Lazzarini, who was in Japan to try and persuade the government there to resume contributions. He said he is hopeful that the issue can be resolved in a matter of days or weeks.

“Japan is a very long-standing partner to the organization, even before Japan became a member of the United Nations,” he pointed out. “I came back to discuss the resumption of Japan’s aid to UNRWA because Japan is one of the 15 countries that has frozen its support for the Agency.”

The Commissioner-General said UNRWA has made changes to ensure the integrity of the organization and its staff. The first was to terminate the contracts of those involved, the second was to put in place an independent investigation, and the third one was a review of all the agency’s internal risk management mechanisms.

“We have already started to draft an action plan to implement the recommendations,” Lazzarini said. “And my discussion here in Japan was also to listen to additional measures Japan would like the agency to put in place so they feel fully confident to pursue the partnership.”

“The discussion I had with the Foreign Minister was very constructive and I also met a number of lawmakers who wanted clarification about the measures being taken by the agency.”

Palestinian Ambassador to Japan Waleed Siam said after the meeting that he believes Israel wants to eliminate the UNRWA from the Palestinian territories.

“I think the whole accusation by the Israelis is just to get rid of the organization for the Palestinians,” Siam told Arab News Japan.

“I think [Lazzarini’s] visit is a very positive visit to explain UNRWA’s point of view to the Japanese government,” Siam said. “And I have full confidence that the Japanese government will continue its support to UNRWA for its humanitarian aid and continue supporting the Palestinian people and supporting also the two-state solution.”

Siam said the answer for Palestine is the two-state solution “so there will be no refugees. We are very confident that UNRWA will continue its work for the refugees of Palestine until the two-state solution, until an independent Palestinian state, and then, after that, UNRWA will have no place in Palestinian territories.”