UNITED NATIONS, April 30. /TASS/. Israel’s campaign against the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) is an upsetting example of misinformation, Russian First Deputy Permanent Representative to the United Nations Dmitry Polyansky said.

"The smear campaign, unleashed by West Jerusalem against the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East, directed at halting the agency’s activity on occupied Palestinian territories, can serve as a sad example," he said at the 46th session of the UN General Assembly Committee on Information.

"As of now, over 180 agency’s employees have been killed in the Gaza Strip which is an absolute record low for the UN," the envoy noted. The diplomat called to take urgent measures on "amending this situation around UNRWA."

In January, a number of countries, including the United Kingdom, Germany, Canada and the United States, announced they were suspending funding for UNRWA over its suspected links to the radical Palestinian movement Hamas. UNRWA Commissioner General Philippe Lazzarini ordered the dismissal of several employees allegedly involved in the October 7 Hamas attack on Israel.

Tensions flared up again in the Middle East on October 7, 2023, when militants from the Gaza-based Palestinian radical group Hamas staged a surprise incursion into Israeli territory from the Gaza Strip. Hamas described its attack as a response to the aggressive actions of Israeli authorities against the Al-Aqsa Mosque on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem’s Old City. In response, Israel has declared a state of war readiness; announced a total blockade of the Gaza Strip, home to 2.3 million Palestinians; and began delivering air strikes on the enclave and certain parts of Lebanon and Syria, followed by a ground operation in the enclave. Clashes are underway in the West Bank as well.