https://arab.news/mse69
- The statement came as UN chief appealed for funding for beleaguered UN agency helping Palestinian refugees in Gaza and elsewhere
- UNRWA’s 30,000 staff provide education, primary health care and other development activities to about 6 million Palestinian refugees
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan reaffirmed its commitment to humanitarian aid and reconstruction efforts in Gaza during a United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) pledging conference in New York, Pakistani state media reported on Saturday.
The statement came as the UN chief appealed for funding for the beleaguered UN agency helping Palestinian refugees in Gaza and elsewhere in the Middle East, accusing Israel of issuing evacuation orders that force Palestinians “to move like human pinballs across a landscape of destruction and death.”
UNRWA’s 30,000 staff provide education, primary health care and other development activities to about 6 million Palestinian refugees in Gaza, the West Bank, Jordan, Lebanon and Syria.
Pakistan has dispatched more than eight planeloads carrying over 2,000 tons of humanitarian aid to Gaza since the outbreak of Israel’s war on Gaza in October last year, the state-run Radio Pakistan broadcaster reported.
“In New York, Second Secretary of the Pakistan Mission to the United Nations Rabia Ijaz advocated for a comprehensive reconstruction plan for Gaza and reiterated readiness to partner in the reconstruction of educational institutions,” the report read.
She also called for an urgent implementation of a peace plan for Gaza as outlined in the UN Security Council resolutions.
Pakistan does not recognize the state of Israel and calls for an independent Palestinian state based on “internationally agreed parameters” and the pre-1967 borders with Al-Quds Al-Sharif as its capital.
Since the beginning of Israel’s war, Pakistan has repeatedly raised the issue at the UN and other world forums, demanding international powers and multilateral bodies stop Israeli military actions in the Palestinian territory.
Israel’s latest evacuation orders in Gaza City have come with more civilian suffering and bloodshed.
Since the Hamas attack that killed some 1,200 Israelis on Oct. 7, Israeli ground offensives and bombardments have killed more than 38,300 people, mostly children, in Gaza, according to the Palestinian health ministry.