UNRWA places staff at the disposal of the Gaza Peace Council

“ ANDgaza, we have 10,500 employees, practically a mini-civil army. I believe we could help them succeed,” said Christian Saunders at a press conference after a ministerial meeting on UNRWA in the framework of the UN General Assembly High Level Week.

The Commissioner-General confirmed “contacts” with representatives of the Peace Council, and advanced that when the National Committee for the Administration of Gaza — provisional government provided for in the Security Council resolution — starts working, it will be necessary to deliver “relatively” results to “keep the trust of the population”.

“ We can help them do that. If [the government] is going to enter Gaza to run a civil administration, it needs to manage schools, health centers, water, sanitation...”, he said.

In this sense, he argued that the agency “has experience and staff on the ground”.

Since its inception, the Peace Council has maintained a stance of explicit rejection of UNRWA, which Israel accuses of supporting the Palestinian Islamist Hamas movement.

The Commissioner thanked the agency for its support on the part of the countries that announced additional contributions today — including France, Spain and Belgium — which helps to reduce the deficit faced by the organisation since the United States froze its contribution.

As I said, the deficit was reduced to around EUR 70 million.

“ In the current circumstances, I would not expect the US to publicly support UNRWA on a large scale, but if they gave us room to operate, this is what we need,” Saunders said.

Despite the ceasefire agreed in October 2025 for Gaza, based on the proposal made by the United States for the future of the territory, the attacks between Israel and Hamas have continued.

The Israeli Army today announced the death of a commander of the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) involved in the captivity of seven Israelis abducted during the attacks of October 7, 2023, which led to the Israeli attack on Gaza. In a statement, the operative, identified as Mahmoud Abdel-Fattah Awad, died in a weekend bombing of Gaza.

“ Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) troops remain in position in the area, in accordance with the agreement, and will continue to act to eliminate any imminent threat,” they added.

According to the Palestinian press, at least three people died today following further attacks by the Israeli Army on various points in the Gaza Strip.

The newspaper “Philastin” and local sources cited by the Palestinian news agency WAFA stated that the victims were civilians. The Israeli Army has not yet spoken about these attacks.

According to the Gaza Ministry of Health, controlled by Hamas, 1,408 deaths and 4,916 injuries have occurred since the ceasefire came into force. The Gaza authorities do not distinguish how many of the victims are civilians and how many are combatants.

Also without making this distinction, the Gaza authorities claim that since the beginning of the offensive launched by Israel following the attacks of 7 October 2023, 73,928 were killed and 175,030 wounded in the Palestinian enclave.