UPDATE - UNRWA employees in Gaza protest downsizing moves

*UPDATES WITH CLOSURE OF UNRWA OFFICES

By Nour Abu Aisha

GAZA CITY, Palestine (AA) – Employees of the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees (UNRWA) protested Wednesday against the agency's recent decision to scale down its operations -- and lay off some of its staff -- in the blockaded Gaza Strip.

At the protest, which was organized by UNRWA's employees’ union, staffers shouted angry slogans against the decision, for which they blamed top UNRWA officials.

Raed Abed, who until recently worked for the agency’s mental health program, told Anadolu Agency: “I was just sacked -- after 23 years of service -- because UNRWA decided to cancel its mental health program.”

“UNRWA doesn’t understand the implications of this decision,” he said. “We are refugees. And we are providing badly-needed services to our fellow refugees [in Gaza].”

“This decision will have catastrophic consequences for the Gaza Strip,” Abed lamented.

He went on to urge UNRWA Commissioner-General Pierre Krahenbuhl and Operations Director in Gaza Matthias Shamali to “reverse these unjust decisions against the agency’s employees in Gaza”.

Amal Abdel Wahab, another agency employee who was recently informed of her dismissal, told Anadolu Agency: “I will continue to follow my work; I will not recognize the dismissal notice.”

In the same context, the UNRWA's employee union said it will close the agency’s offices in the Gaza Strip until “further notice”.

"We announce the closure of all headquarters of district heads in Gaza until further notice,” the union said in a statement. “We call on the regional heads and directors of departments and programs to boycott the administration and not to implement its decisions.”

The statement said that UNRWA has “declared war” on its employees and Palestinian refugees.

"UNRWA bears the full responsibility for the repercussions of its unprecedented decision that targets the rights of its employees and refugees," it said.

Early on Wednesday, an UNRWA spokesman said the agency would not renew the contracts of more than 100 of its employees in Gaza.

According to the employees’ union, the agency has terminated its mental health program, which had provided direct services to Palestinian refugees and had employed roughly 430 staff members.

UNRWA has also terminated the contracts of dozens of its engineers in recent months, union officials have said.

Established in 1949, UNRWA provides critical aid to Palestinian refugees in the blockaded Gaza Strip, the Israeli-occupied West Bank, Jordan, Lebanon and Syria.

Earlier this year, the U.S. suspended over half of the annual funding -- $65 million out of $125 million -- earmarked for the agency.

The fund reduction came shortly after the Palestinian leadership rejected any U.S. role in the peace process in retaliation for U.S. President Donald Trump's decision last year to recognize Jerusalem as Israel's capital.