Widespread Condemnations.. UNRWA Issues Decision to Dismiss Nearly 600 Employees from Gaza

SadaNews - On Tuesday, the management of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) officially and immediately notified its local employees in the Gaza Strip who are currently outside the territory of the decision to terminate their services.

This decision, according to a document signed by the Acting Director of UNRWA Affairs in the Gaza Region, "Sam Rose," is a result of the ongoing financial crisis facing the agency and its inability to secure the necessary funds to continue paying salaries and meeting programmatic commitments.

The employees in question had previously been placed on "exceptional" leave for the benefit of the agency, starting from March 1 of last year, which was supposed to end in February 2026. However, the worsening financial situation prompted the management to make the decision to terminate contracts based on Article 9.1 of the local staff regulations.

According to the official circular issued by UNRWA and bearing reference number (10216182/T/HR), it confirms the payment of end-of-service compensation in accordance with Article 9.109 of the local staff regulations, and compensation for notice periods and any other benefits applicable to the employee.

Additionally, UNRWA provides each employee with details of the final settlement separately.

Informed sources reported that UNRWA's decision includes approximately 600 workers in the education sector; most of whom are located in Egypt, citing the financial crisis.

In the aftermath, the Fatah movement stated that the decision to dismiss 575 UNRWA employees is unjust and undermines the rights of Palestinian workers, increasing their suffering amid the war and blockade. It added that the decision represents indirect complicity with collective punishment policies targeting the Palestinian people.

This was stated in a statement issued by the Media Commission in the southern regions, in which Fatah confirmed that the decision cannot be separated from the general context of what our people are experiencing, as such arbitrary measures aim to strip these important groups of their resilience, including their ability to support their families and feed their children. It clarified that the dismissed employees are not just administrative numbers, but are families of displaced fighters and children without shelter or means of livelihood, representing one of the most important segments of Palestinian society.

Fatah called on the UN Secretary-General to intervene with UNRWA's management to immediately reverse the dismissal decision and reinstate all employees without conditions, urging various international community institutions to assume their legal responsibilities regarding this serious crisis, warning of the humanitarian and social repercussions of this decision, and affirming its full support for the rights and dignity of the employees and the importance of initiating practical steps in response to this moral collapse.

The statement concluded by emphasizing that our Palestinian people look forward to those who support and defend them and cannot bear any further injustice amid the ongoing slaughter and displacement; Fatah will remain a defender of the rights of its people and their dignity, and will cling to their right to a dignified life and justice.

For its part, the Joint Committee for Refugees expressed its shock and outrage at the decision of UNRWA's management to dismiss 622 employees at once, describing the decision as arbitrary and inhumane, constituting a new blow to Palestinian refugees and a direct assault on the dignity of the employee and their right to safe living and decent work. The committee clarified in a press statement issued on Wednesday that the dismissed employees did not leave the Gaza Strip out of luxury or choice, but were forced to leave to escape certain death in the midst of a total extermination war that included bombardment, starvation, and disease, noting that a large number of them are patients or caregivers for patients, who left to preserve their lives. It added that instead of protecting and fulfilling their rights, UNRWA’s management chose to punish them by dismissal and expulsion, in a dangerous precedent making survival a crime for which the employee is held accountable.

The committee affirmed that the decision is unjust, immoral, and inhumane, holding UNRWA's management, particularly the Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini, fully responsible for it. It considered that issuing it at the end of his term, which has only weeks left, places him in front of a black record titled: Dismissal of Employees, Targeting Teachers, and Starving Refugee Families. It emphasized that Palestinian refugees are the source of UNRWA’s legitimacy, not donor countries, asserting that the position of the Commissioner-General should have been to serve and protect refugees, not to persecute them or push them into unemployment and homelessness after long years of service under the harshest conditions.

The "Haia" Center for Human Rights also strongly condemned and firmly rejected UNRWA's decision to terminate the contracts of approximately 600 education sector employees, most of whom are outside the Gaza Strip, particularly in the Arab Republic of Egypt, immediately, with January 17, 2026, set as a final date to complete the clearance procedures.