Algeria says it wants to convene a UNSC meeting on UNRWA activities

Algeria, as acting chairman of the UN Security Council, is going to hold a meeting of the Security Council at the end of January on the situation with the threat of termination of the activities of the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) because of Israel's ban on its work on the territory of the state. Algeria's representative to the UN, Amar Benjama, said during a press conference on January 2.

"We intend to convene a meeting in the third decade of the month to discuss the UNRWA situation. We hope to reach a consensus that will allow UNRWA to continue its work," the representative said.

He clarified that UNRWA is an indispensable agency and it must continue to carry out its humanitarian work.

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Earlier, on December 2, UNRWA announced the suspension of humanitarian aid deliveries through the Kerem Shalom crossing on the Palestinian-Israeli border.

In November, the Commissioner General of the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) Philip Lazzarini said that the number of dead as well as those buried under the rubble in the Gaza Strip may exceed 43,000, and the number of injured - 103,000.

The situation in the Middle East escalated on the morning of October 7, 2023, when the Palestinian radical movement Hamas subjected the territory of Israel to massive rocket fire from the Gaza Strip. On the same day, Israel began retaliatory strikes.