An UNRWA vehicle drives past displaced Palestinians walking near the Egyptian border in Rafah. EPA
An UNRWA vehicle drives past displaced Palestinians walking near the Egyptian border in Rafah. EPA
An UNRWA vehicle drives past displaced Palestinians walking near the Egyptian border in Rafah. EPA
An UNRWA vehicle drives past displaced Palestinians walking near the Egyptian border in Rafah. EPA

UNRWA cannot be 'replaced or substituted', says Gaza aid co-ordinator


Adla Massoud
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A senior UN aid official said on Tuesday that UNRWA, the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, cannot be “replaced or substituted”, following Israeli allegations that staff members were involved in the October 7 Hamas attack.

“It's very critical that we recognise the central role that UNRWA plays in the Gaza Strip in the delivery of humanitarian aid and prior, of course, to the conflict, when schools were open or the clinics were open,” Sigrid Kaag, senior humanitarian and reconstruction co-ordinator for Gaza, told reporters following a closed door meeting of the UN Security Council.

She added that “there is no way any organisation can replace or substitute tremendous capacity, the fabric of UNRWA the ability and their knowledge of the population in Gaza”.

Several countries, including the US, Britain, Germany, Sweden, the Netherlands, France and Japan, have suspended funding to the UN agency following accusations that some staff members were involved in the October 7 Hamas attacks on Israel.

Israel has accused the UN agency of bias and pledged to end its operations in Gaza after the war.

Ms Kaag told reporters that she had shared her observations and recommendations during her briefing to the council, highlighting the logistics of Gaza supply routes and the distribution process, as well as creating a supportive environment and a UN aid oversight mechanism.

Why are western countries cutting funding to UNRWA? – video

“This is not about counting [aid] trucks. This is about volume, quality, speed and continuous delivery of humanitarian and commercial goods to reach the civilians of Gaza,” she said.

“And the mechanism, when up and running, can really help facilitate that.”

Ms Kaag's remarks came as UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres was preparing to meet 36 donor countries to discuss UNRWA funding.

Also speaking to reporters, US ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield said that “there has to be accountability for anyone who participated in this attack on October 7".

She further added that the US has reached out to Israel to “seek more information about these allegations" and welcomed the decision by the UN to conduct an investigation and an independent assessment and review of UNRWA.

UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric told reporters that every year UNRWA provides a list of its 13,000 staff in Gaza to Israel and the Palestinian Authority.

“As far as I’m told by UNRWA, concerns have not been raised when the list of staff have been shared,” he said.

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Ms Thomas Greenfield stressed that Washington needs to see “fundamental changes” before funding to UNRWA can resume.

“We need to look at the organisation, how it operates in Gaza, how they manage their staff and to ensure that people who commit criminal acts, such as these 12 individuals, are held accountable immediately so that UNRWA can continue the essential work that it's doing,” she said.

At the same time, the US envoy said "UNRWA plays a critical – critical – role in providing life-saving assistance to Palestinians, including essential food and medicine, shelter and other vital humanitarian support. ”

"They've literally saved thousands of lives, and it's unfortunate that this information has raised some doubts about UNRWA."

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How The Debt Panel's advice helped readers in 2019

December 11: 'My husband died, so what happens to the Dh240,000 he owes in the UAE?'

JL, a housewife from India, wrote to us about her husband, who died earlier this month. He left behind an outstanding loan of Dh240,000 and she was hoping to pay it off with an insurance policy he had taken out. She also wanted to recover some of her husband’s end-of-service liabilities to help support her and her son.

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SL, a financial services employee from India, left the UAE in June after quitting his job because his employer had not paid him since November 2018. He owes Dh103,800 on four debts and was told by the panellists he may be able to use the insolvency law to solve his issue. 

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Man of the Match: Fabinho (Liverpool)

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Key changes

Commission caps

For life insurance products with a savings component, Peter Hodgins of Clyde & Co said different caps apply to the saving and protection elements:

• For the saving component, a cap of 4.5 per cent of the annualised premium per year (which may not exceed 90 per cent of the annualised premium over the policy term). 

• On the protection component, there is a cap  of 10 per cent of the annualised premium per year (which may not exceed 160 per cent of the annualised premium over the policy term).

• Indemnity commission, the amount of commission that can be advanced to a product salesperson, can be 50 per cent of the annualised premium for the first year or 50 per cent of the total commissions on the policy calculated. 

• The remaining commission after deduction of the indemnity commission is paid equally over the premium payment term.

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Disclosure

Customers must now be provided with a full illustration of the product they are buying to ensure they understand the potential returns on savings products as well as the effects of any charges. There is also a “free-look” period of 30 days, where insurers must provide a full refund if the buyer wishes to cancel the policy.

“The illustration should provide for at least two scenarios to illustrate the performance of the product,” said Mr Hodgins. “All illustrations are required to be signed by the customer.”

Another illustration must outline surrender charges to ensure they understand the costs of exiting a fixed-term product early.

Illustrations must also be kept updatedand insurers must provide information on the top five investment funds available annually, including at least five years' performance data.

“This may be segregated based on the risk appetite of the customer (in which case, the top five funds for each segment must be provided),” said Mr Hodgins.

Product providers must also disclose the ratio of protection benefit to savings benefits. If a protection benefit ratio is less than 10 per cent "the product must carry a warning stating that it has limited or no protection benefit" Mr Hodgins added.

How England have scored their set-piece goals in Russia

Three Penalties

v Panama, Group Stage (Harry Kane)

v Panama, Group Stage (Kane)

v Colombia, Last 16 (Kane)

Four Corners

v Tunisia, Group Stage (Kane, via John Stones header, from Ashley Young corner)

v Tunisia, Group Stage (Kane, via Harry Maguire header, from Kieran Trippier corner)

v Panama, Group Stage (Stones, header, from Trippier corner)

v Sweden, Quarter-Final (Maguire, header, from Young corner)

One Free-Kick

v Panama, Group Stage (Stones, via Jordan Henderson, Kane header, and Raheem Sterling, from Tripper free-kick)

MATCH INFO

Rugby World Cup (all times UAE)

Final: England v South Africa, Saturday, 1pm

Updated: January 31, 2024, 4:24 AM`