Dozens of staff members from the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) held a protest in the Nuseirat camp in the Gaza Strip, contesting the job cuts planned by the organization. The demonstrators marched accompanied by local residents to a UNRWA unit located in the refugee camp, situated in the center of Palestinian territory.
The posters displayed by the participants carried messages such as 'No to job cuts' and 'No to reducing services for refugees.' Established in 1949, UNRWA provides support to approximately 5.9 million Palestinian refugees across Palestinian territories, as well as Syria, Lebanon, and Jordan.
Specifically in the Gaza Strip, the agency supports 1.5 million individuals, considering the total population of the Palestinian enclave at 2.1 million. As a fundamental element in the health, education, and humanitarian aid sectors, the agency employs 10,500 people in this territory, which has been severely affected by three years of conflict initiated by Israel on October 7, 2023.
This conflict originated after an unprecedented attack carried out by the Palestinian Islamic movement Hamas on Israeli territory, resulting in around 1,200 deaths and 251 hostages, according to the official tally from Israeli authorities. Israel's retaliatory war has caused at least 74,609 deaths, mostly civilians, and 175,834 injuries so far. This occurred even after a ceasefire came into effect on October 10, 2025, during which the Israeli army maintained attacks against Palestinian civilians, increasing the number of casualties.
According to data from local authorities, considered reliable by the UN, at least 1,593 Palestinians have died and 5,748 have been injured in the Gaza Strip since the start of the truce. Furthermore, the conflict has generated a catastrophic humanitarian crisis, leading to the near-total destruction of the territory's infrastructure and the forced displacement of hundreds of thousands of people. Three years later, 1.9 million inhabitants of Gaza remain displaced, with cities, neighborhoods, and streets completely destroyed, and it is estimated that about 10,000 bodies are still buried under the rubble.
UNRWA spokesperson Jonathan Fowler warned on the day of the protest that the agency has faced unprecedented financial and operational difficulties for some time, indicating that difficult decisions may be necessary in the near future, although no specific decision can be detailed at this moment.
In September, Christian Saunders, the head of UNRWA, had already issued a warning: if a deficit of $100 million (approximately 90 million euros at the current exchange rate) was not covered within two months, the agency risked having to reduce the services provided to refugees.
During the demonstration, Mustafa al-Ghur, a representative of the staff union, declared that the protest aimed to make clear the opposition to laying off any worker, arguing that firing employees is equivalent to ending the services intended for refugees and diminishing the quality of those same services.
Israel has repeatedly accused the UN agency of employing Hamas members, alleging that some of these participated in the October 2023 attack that triggered the war. Although several international investigations have pointed to 'issues related to neutrality' within the organization, they stressed that Israel did not present evidence to support such allegations. Additionally, legislation that terminates any link between the State of Israel and the agency, prohibiting its operation in Israeli territory, came into force in January 2025.
