Humanitarians Say Democrats Must Restore UNRWA Funding If They Really Want To Help Gaza

CHICAGO — Several Arab and Muslim leaders, human rights experts and humanitarian officials stressed on Tuesday thatif Democrats are serious about getting more aid into Gaza, they must resume U.S. funding for the United Nations agency responsible for keeping Palestinians alive.

At two events held Tuesday in Chicago by the Arab American Institute and the Institute for Middle East Understanding — events scheduled alongside, butseparate from, the official Democratic National Convention programming — panelists spoke of the ongoing humanitarian crisis brought on by Israel’s nearly year-long U.S.-backed military campaign in Gaza, which much of the international community has labeled a genocide.

Israeli officials have “said anybody born in Gaza is born a terrorist. They’re animals, they’re snakes. There can’t be an innocent child in Gaza,” said Mara Kronenfeld, executive director for UNRWA USA, the committee that oversees U.S. support for the agency. “That rhetoric allows you to decimate an entire population.”

UNRWA has served as the primary aid resource for millions of Palestinians ever since they were violently exiled 75 years ago, in an event they refer to as the Nakba, to make room for the newly created state of Israel. The Palestinian population in Gaza has relied heavily on the organization for health care, education, civic planning and food assistance for years — and even more so since Israel launched its offensive last year, in response to a deadly attack on Israel by Hamas militants on Oct. 7.

Many aid workers in Gaza are themselves Palestinian, causing Israeli officials and their allies to dehumanize them, speakers said on Tuesday. More than 200 UNRWA staff members have been killed in Gaza, though those deaths have