UNRWA chief Philippe Lazzarini has said calls to dismantle the UN agency for Palestinians are short-sighted and that terminating its mandate would deepen the humanitarian crisis in Gaza.

Major donors have suspended funding after allegations that 12 of UNRWA’s thousands of Palestinian employees were suspected of involvement in the October 7 attack on Israel by the Hamas resistance movement. 

“I have talked to the member states about all these calls to have UNRWA dismantled, to be terminated. I have warned about the impact, I have said that these calls are short-sighted,” Lazzarini said after meeting member states at the United Nations in Geneva, Al Jazeera reported. 

“There is absolutely no other UN agency or international NGOs which have been tasked over the last two decades to provide government-like services like education to hundreds of thousands of children.”