The United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA, is facing a cash-flow shortfall of $80 million that threatens its long-term sustainability, the agency warned in a statement on Thursday, November 5 — and on Friday the UN Secretary-General, António Guterres, renewed his call for the agency's vital work to be fully funded.

Source: Anadolu Agency

UNRWA said it is under unprecedented financial pressure, with global contributions declining and operating conditions becoming increasingly restrictive. It said the $80 million cash-flow gap, together with accumulated liabilities and recurring financial obligations, creates long-term sustainability problems for the agency — yaani, a shortfall of about 8 crore dollars in the money it needs to keep its services running.

"I can tell you that the secretary-general is fully committed to defending UNRWA in the exercise of its fundamental role in support of Palestinian refugees," Guterres's spokesman, Stéphane Dujarric, told supporters on Friday. "He once again calls for UNRWA's vital work to be fully funded." The remarks were a funding appeal, not a new funding commitment — no donor pledges were announced alongside them.

Services continue — on a shorter week

UNRWA said it continues to provide education, health care, relief and social services to registered Palestinian refugees across all five of its fields of operation: the Gaza Strip, the occupied West Bank including East Jerusalem, Jordan, Lebanon and Syria. Among the containment measures already in place is a 20 percent reduction in the weekly service-provision workday, applied from January 2026, a step the agency says seeks to protect jobs while sustaining basic care, according to reporting by the Spanish agency EFE.

The agency recalled that the UN General Assembly broadly expanded its mandate in December 2025, but that the resources available to carry it out remain insufficient and unpredictable. Qatar's state news agency QNA reported on Saturday that Guterres had renewed his full commitment to defending UNRWA's fundamental role, and noted the agency's recent warning that about 1.98 million people in Gaza — 94 percent of its population — need urgent assistance to secure shelter and non-food items.

Why the timing matters

The funding warning lands in the same week that Gaza's first winter storm flooded tens of thousands of displacement tents and the territory's civil defence fielded about 1,500 distress calls in 10 hours — a reminder that the agency's shelter and relief work is being asked to expand at exactly the moment its cash position is weakest. Israel has banned UNRWA from operating in the occupied territories, claiming some of its staff were involved in the October 2023 attack on Israel — an Israeli claim the agency's supporters dispute, and one that has further complicated its operations.

The storm that exposed how thin Gaza's shelter safety net has become: Gaza winter storm floods tents, 1,500 distress calls

What happens next

UNRWA has not announced which services would be cut if the $80 million gap is not closed, and no new donor commitments were reported by Saturday. The open question is whether contributions recover enough to sustain essential services: the secretary-general's intervention restates the UN's political backing for the agency, but the shortfall itself remains unfilled.