DM Monitoring
NEW YORK: Despite a financial crisis and an Israeli disinformation campaign, Pakistan commended the UN agency for Palestine refugees (UNRWA) for continuing to deliver life-saving aid to Palestinians in Gaza, the West Bank, Lebanon, Syria and Jordan under “unimaginably dangerous conditions,” and urged the international community to protect it.
“The Agency’s work has not only served the refugees; it has also helped preserve regional stability by averting humanitarian collapse,” Ansar Shah, a first secretary in the Pakistan Mission to the United Nations, told the UN General Assembly’s Fourth Committee, which deals with special political and decolonization matters.
UNRWA’s mandate also includes provision of education to children, health care to the sick, emergency relief and shelter to the displaced, and above all, a sense of dignity and belonging to the Palestinians deprived of their homeland.
The Pakistani delegate highly praised UNRWA’s leadership and its heroic staff, noting that nearly 400 of it’s workers have been killed in Gaza since Oct. 2023 in the line of duty as they served the Palestinians under Israeli military’s devastating bombing strikes that killed and injured tens of thousands of people.
Reaffirming its full support, he said Pakistan stands in “resolute solidarity with the Palestinian people and with UNRWA.”
“UNRWA is a beacon of hope and the platform for many to achieve their dreams; it should remain that way,” Ansar Shah said, highlighting that this institution remains under the gravest assault in its history, with its mandate questioned, staff vilified, facilities attacked, and existence threatened.
Israeli actions are “part of a broader strategy to erase the identity of the Palestinian people, to deny much-needed humanitarian aid and to extinguish their aspirations for statehood and self-determination,” he said.
“By undermining the Agency, Israel seeks to remove the last remaining structure that sustains Palestinian refugees.”
Ansar Shah said Pakistan dismisses the Israeli legislation to ban UNRWA’s operations, revoke its immunities, and even designate it a “terrorist organization”, calling the move “a travesty of international law, a violation of the UN Charter, and an affront to this Assembly, which created UNRWA through resolution 302 (IV) of 1949.”
A further legislative measures adopted in December 2025 and actions against UNRWA facilities in occupied East Jerusalem, including Sheikh Jarrah, Kalandia and Shufat, have compounded the Israeli assault, it was pointed out.
“We reject these actions in the strongest terms; They have no legal validity”, he said, underlining that no State has the authority to dismantle a UN agency established by the General Assembly.
“At this critical juncture,” he said, “Pakistan believes the international community must ensure that UNRWA is protected and enabled to discharge its mandate without hindrance,”and called for ceasing attempts to delegitimize, defund or dismantle the Agency.
“National legislation cannot override international law, nor can it extinguish the responsibilities entrusted by this Assembly. Its personnel and premises must be protected, and full, safe and unhindered humanitarian access must be assured.”
The Pakistani delegate also underscored the need for addressing the chronic underfunding of UNRWA, which is facing a dire financial shortfall of over US$100 million.
“Sustained, predictable political, financial and operational support, including consideration of appropriate UN regular-budget support, is essential,” he said.
“We reaffirm the inalienable right of the Palestinian people to self-determination and statehood, and our full support for UNRWA’s humanitarian mandate until a just and lasting political settlement of the question of Palestine is achieved,” Ansar Shah added.
Introducing his report, Christian Saunders, Commissioner-General of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), said, “We have all seen the appalling images coming out of Gaza this last week”, as Gazans are facing yet another winter in conditions that “no human being should have to endure”.
Against impossible odds, the Agency continues to provide assistance to the Palestinians refugees, with the services ranging from healthcare to education to waste management to psychosocial services. Since September 2026, more than 117,000 children have been engaging in learning activities in 85 temporary learning spaces, while some 280,000 children are registered on the Agency’s digital learning platform.
However, the Agency is battling operational constraints and chronic underfunding, he reported. The budget deficit for 2026 is $250 million, including a cash flow deficit of approximately $70 million. To keep paying personnel through the end of the year, he will need to ask for a loan from the Central Emergency Response Fund, he said.
Calling on delegates to act immediately, he said, “This is not the Agency crying wolf; this is fact.”
