Arab countries have slashed donations to the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) this year, piling pressure on an organisation already reeling from the loss of US funding and a crackdown by Israeli authorities.
The agency, a vital lifeline for millions of Palestinian refugees, may be unable to pay the salaries of its thousands of employees by the end of the month as financial pressures mount.
Funding from across the Arab world so far this year has amounted to just $14 million, a more than 90% drop from 2024, according to figures obtained by The New Arab.
Of this, just $4 million has been paid.
"We continue to live hand to mouth," said UNRWA's communication head Juliette Touma.
"If urgent funding is not secured, our services to Palestinian communities across the region are at serious risk of being brought to a halt," she said.
Arab states donated almost $190 million to the agency in 2024, contributing around 13% of its total funding. The bulk of this was provided by Gulf countries, including Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and the UAE.
Agency head Philippe Lazzarini last week issued a plea to Arab governments to maintain funding to the organisation.
"I call on Arab states to demonstrate solidarity with UNRWA through not only political support but also robust financial support," he told Arab foreign ministers in Cairo.
He continued: "I am convinced that this is not the message the region wants to convey to Palestine refugees in the occupied Palestinian territory and across the region. Words of solidarity must translate into matching funding to make a tangible difference."
Since the 7 October attack, UNRWA has been under sustained assault by Israeli authorities, which have tried to cripple its operations in Gaza and the West Bank and pressure donors to halt funding.
The US and key European countries withheld donations after Israel alleged that several of the agency's employees participated in the Hamas-led attack.
European countries later resumed donations after a UN investigation found no evidence for Israel's claims, though the US – the organisation's single-largest donor – has continued to withhold funding.
The UN review, carried out by former French foreign minister Catherine Colonna, said that Israel had failed to provide evidence that UNRWA staff were involved in the attack.
In March, an Israeli ban on the organisation came into force, hobbling its operations in the West Bank where more than 900,000 Palestinians rely on its services.
A number of schools have been forced to close and senior staff relocated to Jordan after its Jerusalem office was shuttered. Lawmakers are currently drafting legislation that would cut water and electricity services to its facilities and expel it from East Jerusalem.
In Gaza, the Israeli military has killed more than 360 UNRWA employees since launching its devastating assault in October 2023. Schools and health clinics operated by the agency across the strip have been targeted.
The agency has been the backbone of aid efforts in Gaza during the war, distributing two-thirds of all food, providing shelter to more than one million displaced people, and vaccinating hundreds of thousands of children against polio.
UNRWA was established by the UN in 1949 after more than 700,000 Palestinians were expelled from their homes by Israeli paramilitaries.
Its 30,000 staff members provide education, healthcare and social services to six million Palestinian refugees living in Gaza, the occupied West Bank and surrounding Arab countries.