Doha: The Arab League has stressed the importance of all donors assuming their responsibilities toward filling the funding gap UNRWA is facing.

This came during a meeting Secretary-General Nabil Fahmy held with the Head of the Refugee Affairs Department and member of the Executive Committee of the Palestine Liberation Organization, Dr. Ahmed Abu Holi, at the League's General Secretariat in Cairo.

According to Qatar News Agency, Fahmy noted UNRWA's pivotal role amid the Israeli war-induced tragedy unfolding in the Gaza Strip, whose inhabitants are mostly refugees.

Fahmy emphasized that the bloc fully backs the role of this UN agency, describing it as a symbol of international recognition of the Palestinian refugee issue and noting that it operates under a UN mandate established by Resolution 302 of 1949.

As such, Fahmy underlined that it is imperative to safeguard this mandate to confront the occupation's bids to undermine this mandate by besmirching UNRWA's image and severely strangling its operations in the occupied Palestinian territories, including closing its offices in East Jerusalem.

Abu Holi, for his part, highlighted the situation of Palestinian refugees amid the funding gap in UNRWA's budget, which exceeds $100 million. He noted that this gap has adversely affected the agency's operations, along with the services it provides to refugees in terms of health and education across the five areas of operation.