(9 May 2024)
LEBANON UNRWA PROTEST
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS
RESTRICTION SUMMARY:
LENGTH: 2:26
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Beirut, Lebanon – 9 May 2024
1. Various of students protesting outside of the office of UNRWA, the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East
2. Various of protesters holding Lebanese and Palestinian flags
3. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Mohamed Shaban, protester:
"We are here in this protest today to tell UNRWA to not become like other U.N. institutions because with the decline and halt of its aid, it is becoming an institution that serves as an adversary to the Palestinian people. We want UNRWA’s image to remain pure before the Palestinian people, the way it was for decades."
4. Various of protesters holding Lebanese and Palestinians flag standing outside of UNRWA building
5. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Mohamed Shaban, protester:
"Today, the crisis is escalating with their (Israelis’) entry into Rafah, the largest gathering for women and children. Where is the United Nations today? Where are the voices calling for freedom? Today, the situation cannot continue like this."
6. Various of women holding Palestinian flags and signs
7. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Shadia al-Halwani, protester:
"We are a persecuted people, nobody is standing with us. We are dying. The people in Gaza are dying, they’re left in tatters. We are emotionally spent. It’s about time the Arabs fear God. Let at least someone stand with us. We are alone. We’re lucky to still be here."
8. Protesters waving Lebanese, Palestinian flags
9. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Salwa Zamzam, protester:
"It is our right as Palestinians to have UNRWA. As long as it has been put in place for us, we have a right to ask of it. Our people are dying because of a lack of medicine, health care and access to medical equipment."
10. Protesters holding Palestinians flags in a street leading to UNRWA building
11. U.N. flag on top of UNRWA building
STORYLINE:
Scores of people protested outside the office of the U.N. agency for Palestinian refugees known as UNRWA, calling on the agency to continue providing aid to the Palestinians in war-torn Gaza.
In March, Israel ramped up its criticism of the embattled U.N. agency, saying 450 of its employees were members of militant groups in the Gaza Strip, though it provided no evidence to back up its accusation.
Major international funders have withheld hundreds of millions of dollars from UNRWA since Israel accused 12 of its employees of participating in the Oct. 7 Hamas attacks on Israel that killed 1,200 people and left about 250 others held hostage in Gaza.
"With the decline and halt of its aid, it is becoming an institution that serves as an adversary to the Palestinian people," said Mohamed Shaban, one of the protesters at the demonstration in Beirut.
Demonstrators waved Palestinian and Lebanese flags as they pleaded for aid for the Palestinians in Gaza.
"Nobody is standing with us. We are dying. The people in Gaza are dying, they’re left in tatters. We are emotionally spent," said Shadia al-Halwani, another protester.
UNRWA is the biggest aid provider in Gaza, where Israel’s war has displaced the vast majority of the population within the besieged territory and plunged it into a humanitarian catastrophe.
Australia, Sweden, the European Commission and Canada have said they are reinstating funding for the UNRWA, which had seen its international funding frozen while the allegations were investigated.
AP video shot by Fadi Tawil
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