Mr. John Whyte:

The Senator's last points kind of link to the first point because UNRWA's mandate is perceived to link very strongly to the right of return. The mandate is based on the provision of services to the Palestinian people in the host countries pending a just political resolution to their plight. We were only ever established as a temporary agency 75 years ago, and so our three-year mandate continuously turns over because there has been no political solution thus far. We will welcome the day when there is orderly political stability, a framework of agreement and the possibility of a managed transition to some sort of civil service from the Gazan and Palestinian people in each of the different areas. It still feels far away. Until then, we will continue to do what we can.

One of the motives, I believe, of the Israeli Government to try to get rid of UNRWA is the perception that we are inextricably linked with the right of return but actually, the legislation linked to right of return is separate to UNRWA. Just because you get rid of UNRWA, for example, you do not get rid of the right to return. That will continue to be enshrined in international humanitarian law as a UN resolution, so it will continue. Nevertheless, as I said earlier, UNRWA somehow has this symbolic role and position. That is maybe what is being targeted, in my view.

On winterisation, the Senator is right. We are now facing into a very bleak couple of months. The winter storms will mean thousands of tents currently on the beach will be washed away if they cannot be moved. Having lived on the Mediterranean coast for the last 12 years in one place or another, whether in Lebanon or in Gaza, I know that the storms raise the sea level. Last winter in Gaza, tents were washed away and people were made homeless overnight. Whatever shelter you could call a home was taken away from them. Yes, we are facing into that. We are also facing into increased public health risks, as the Senator correctly pointed out, with fewer medical supplies and capacity to deal with that. As I mentioned earlier, we had 22 health centres before the war. Now we are down to three or four in the south. We are trying to repair more. We recently managed to regain an area called Hamad. We have a health centre in Hamad that, fortunately, was not too damaged during the most recently Israeli incursion so we are fixing it up and are going to reopen it. We have about a thousand healthcare staff - doctors, nurses, midwives and paramedical professionals - and they will continue to serve. We just have to fix up the places with whatever materials we have available. We are resourceful and adaptable. We rebuild, readjust, recalibrate and keep going. It is what we do.

Nevertheless, the public health risks of cholera are very real and we have to wait and see. Thank God, the outbreak we saw before was contained and managed. UNRWA has been critical to immunisation. The other thing Palestinians value as much as education is public health and they have one of the highest rates of immunisation in the world. They are very open to this, so if we can get the supplies, we can manage.