UNRWA at its limit: it will run out of funds by the end of September.

Amman, JordanA box of beetle insecticide sits open in a warehouse filled with food. This is UNRWA's logistics headquarters in Jordan, where pallets of flour, oil, sugar, rice, blankets, tents, clothing, and other basic supplies have been stockpiling for months. They must be kept from spoiling. The hangar, crowned with the UN's signature blue roof, is overflowing. But they continue to receive allotments of supplies. And dozens of workers in blue vests are busy labeling and repackaging them.

To keep surplus products and medical supplies in climate-controlled facilities, UNRWA has had to rent another warehouse in another part of Amman. It shares the equipment with companies like H&M and Starbucks. In this space alone, there are 3,000 pallets of food and 1,200 of medicine. "This is money for humanitarian action that should be going to humanitarian action," laments Jonathan Fowler, UNRWA spokesperson.

In Jordan alone, the organization has the equivalent of about 900 truckloads of supplies. All of this aid should enter Gaza via the route that passes through the King Hussein Bridge. But Israel has been preventing it since March. The same thing is happening at Rafah, the crossing from Egypt. In total, UNRWA has 6,000 trucks ready that could begin entering immediately if allowed and bring some relief to a completely besieged and desperate population. "Something must change, it must change immediately," Fowler insists.

For now, the products shouldn't expire soon—the earliest date is May 2026—because to be selected for these shipments, they must be durable. But some workers confess that if a batch is about to spoil, they distribute it to whoever needs it. The sight of tons of food stored here spoiling horrifies everyone working there.

International humanitarian personnel have also been unable to enter Gaza for months. As in all conflicts, the majority of UNRWA staff in Gaza are local. Also as in all conflicts, "the majority of deaths are local workers," Jonathan laments. 360 local UNRWA staff have been killed in Gaza. This devastating number of humanitarian workers killed is unprecedented, as is the number of journalists killed in this war, which is the highest in history. "Normally, being an aid worker means going where people need you. In Gaza, being a humanitarian means being put in a cage," laments Fowler. The most dangerous in the world. The victims are not only the aid workers. Since the beginning of the conflict, more than 100 children have died of starvation and more than 80,000 have been left without families or separated from their parents. Gaza also tops the macabre world ranking of child amputees.

Fowler explains all this calmly and forcefully. This UNRWA spokesperson worked for years in Jerusalem until Israel expelled him, like the rest of his colleagues. After October 7, the Israeli government considered the agency to have ties to Hamas and cut off all ties by passing laws that prevented its work in Palestinian territory. These facts were recorded in a report that Israel submitted to the UN in January 2024. As a result, several countries, including Joe Biden's United States, temporarily suspended funding while the investigation was open. When Donald Trump returned to the White House, the withdrawal of funds was consolidated and extended to other UN agencies.

These decisions have pushed UNRWA to the limit. The current situation is unprecedented, neither due to the humanitarian crisis nor due to the budget. "Our current funding only allows us to maintain operations until the end of September," warns Fowler, who explains that with the current projected income, they could only cover six days of operations in October and November. There is no reason to believe that the situation will improve: there is no projected income for the first quarter of 2026 that would allow for borrowing now. "The risk of total implosion in 2026 is high," he concludes.

Barcelona doubles its budget for UNRWA

To ease the financial burden on this UN agency, Barcelona has announced that it will double its financial contribution. The city's mayor, Jaume Collboni, announced during an official trip to Amman in support of the Palestinian people that this amount will increase from 200,000 to 400,000 euros annually. The amount will be used to "purchase medicines and food," the mayor said during a visit to the UNRWA logistics center.

This money should also be used to strengthen the project "to support doctors and nurses, who are currently caring for children with disabilities" in the Gaza Strip.

Collboni traveled to Amman afterIsraeli authorities revoked his visa last Friday., when he was scheduled to fly to Tel Aviv as part of an institutional trip to meet with the mayors of Ramallah and Bethlehem. Accompanied by the second deputy mayor, Maria Eugenia Gay, Collboni kept part of his agenda and met this morning with UNRWA's program director, Olaf Becker, and the mayor of Amman, Youssef Shawarbeh.