Pep Guardiola urges world 'not to forget' Gaza in UNRWA appeal

Former Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola has recorded a video appeal for UNRWA, the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, urging the world not to forget Gaza and asking people to donate to the agency. The roughly three-minute message was released late on Sunday, 18 October, and picked up on the wires on Monday. The National

“They are not dead, they are murdered people. These are not numbers,” Guardiola, 55, said. “They are not collateral damage. They are girls and boys.” He said Gaza’s children were searching for parents in the rubble, going hungry and losing “everything before they have even had the chance to grow up”, adding: “They are not statistics.” Siasat

Guardiola, who has previously described Israel’s military campaign in Gaza as “genocide”, said more than 74,000 people had been killed in Gaza and accused Israel’s government of obstructing humanitarian aid. Gaza’s health authorities say more than 74,000 Palestinians have been killed since the Hamas-led attacks of 7 October 2023, which Israeli authorities say killed about 1,200 people and saw about 250 taken hostage. ynetnews

He praised UNRWA’s 75-plus years of work for about 5.9 million registered Palestine refugees. “Silence today is a way of taking sides,” he said. “But we cannot look the other way.”

Israel barred UNRWA from operating in territory it controls under laws passed in October 2024, accusing it of links to Hamas — an allegation the agency denies. The National