UN Perpetuates Falsehood, Calls for Increase in Palestinian Humanitarian Aid

The UN called for an 80% increase in emergency humanitarian aid to Palestinians on Wednesday, citing a deepening crisis that follows a freeze in Western assistance to the Hamas-led Palestinian Authority. The money would help pay for employment programs, food aid and health care.

Reuters reports the aid freeze has left the Hamas-led Palestinian Authority unable to pay salaries of 165,000 government workers, and has resulted in shortages of basic necessities including medical supplies. Nowhere in the report is it mentioned, however, that Israel recently approved $11 million for drugs and medical supplies in Gaza which will be delivered directly to the people, not through the government.

As we've said previously, not getting paid is not a humanitarian crisis, and we continue to be disappointed with organizations that link humanitarian considerations to government workers not getting paid. Supporting our position that there is no humanitarian crisis and that the main problem is government workers not receiving a paycheck, Reuters writes in the same report that the UNRWA cited a 600% increase in applications for short-term, UN-sponsored jobs in the West Bank. The program's Gaza waiting-list now tops 100,000 people.