The World Health Organization (WHO) has urged countries to continue funding the UN Palestinian refugee agency (UNRWA), calling Israeli allegations against the UN body a “distraction” from the onslaught in Gaza, Al Jazeera reports.

“The discussion right now is much of a distraction of what is going on every day, every hour in Gaza,” WHO spokesperson Christian Lindmeier told a UN press briefing in Geneva.

Arguing that while these claims should be investigated, he said they currently serve as a “distraction”, from measures preventing an entire nation’s access to food, water, and electricity.

They also distract from the “continuous shelling” of Palestinians in Gaza, even in designated safe areas, as well as from attacks on “shelters, schools, hospitals”, he added.

At least 12 countries — Germany, Switzerland, Italy, Canada, Finland, Australia, UK, Netherlands, US, France, Austria, and Japan — have suspended funding for UNRWA, which was established in 1949 to help Palestinian refugees across the Middle East.