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Palestinian UN Ambassador: no alternative to UNRWA

Riyad Mansour says Palestinian leadership welcomes Biden’s port plan but aid via land is vital

The Palestinian Ambassador to the United Nations has told HARDtalk that “the Palestinian leadership welcome assistance to our people in all parts of Gaza, in any way possible”.
Riyad Mansour was asked by Stephen Sackur about President Joe Biden’s initiatives to deliver aid via airlifts and a temporary port.
The Ambassador said that such initiatives should “not allow Prime Minister Netanyahu to try to show that there is an alternative to UNRWA”. The United Nations Relief and Works Agency has long been responsible for delivering aid in Gaza, but some countries halted funding following allegations in January that UNRWA staff participated in the October 7th attack on Israel. Within days, UNRWA head Philippe Lazzarini said an investigation was being carried out, and "to protect the agency's ability to deliver humanitarian assistance" these staff members had been sacked.
Ambassador Mansour, the top Palestinian diplomat at the UN since 2005, said that “there is no alternative to UNRWA” because they have the “experience” of working in Gaza. He said the UN agency had “13,000 employees who are part of the Palestinian people” and are capable of distributing humanitarian assistance “in a very efficient and effective way”. Citing CIA Director William J. Burns, he said that it would not be possible to distribute the amount of aid required “without a ceasefire” and said that deliveries via trucks were essential because “you cannot address the acute starvation…without having a massive amount of aid through land crossings”.

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