Dozens of people, mainly Palestinian refugees living in Lebanon, demonstrated Tuesday against a decision by Western states to stop their payments to the UN aid agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA).
The Islamist movement Hamas called on protesters to gather in front of the UNRWA headquarters in the Lebanese capital Beirut to denounce the decision of several countries following allegations 12 UNRWA workers participated in the October 7 terrorist attacks in Israel.
“The decision to stop payments not only affects Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, but also those who lived outside the coastal strip,” a demonstrator told dpa.
Another protester said: “The decision is a continuation of the atrocities against the Palestinians and it has nothing to do with politics. It is a decision against the Palestinian people.”
Germany and the US are among the Western countries to have stopped their payments to the relief organization despite the continued heavy bombardment of Gaza by Israel in retaliation for October 7.
“The decision is like forcing the Palestinians to die in Gaza and in other countries. We ask Arab countries to look at the people of Gaza who are dying from hunger. We ask them to exert pressure to revoke this decision,” one protester said.
