The US said on Tuesday that the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) needs to make “fundamental changes” before Washington will resume funding that was halted over Israeli accusations that twelve members of the agency’s staff took part in the 7 October Hamas attack, Reuters has reported.
US Ambassador to the UN Linda Thomas-Greenfield welcomed an inquiry into the accusations against UNRWA staff and a planned agency review. She also said that the US was seeking more detail from Israel about the allegations.
“We need to look at the organisation, how it operates in Gaza, how they manage their staff and to ensure that people who commit criminal acts, such as these 12 individuals, are held accountable immediately so that UNRWA can continue the essential work that it’s doing,” said the ambassador.
The accusations became public on Friday — the same day that the International Court of Justice issued its interim decision on South Africa’s allegation about Israel committing genocide — when UNRWA announced it had fired some staff after Israel provided the agency with information. UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said on Sunday that, of 12 people implicated, nine were fired, one is dead, and the identity of the remaining two was being clarified.
The US is UNRWA’s biggest donor. It has paused its funding, as have some other countries. State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said on Tuesday that Washington provides $300-400 million a year to the agency.
Guterres met with dozens of UNRWA donor states in New York for more than two hours on Tuesday to discuss the UN action being taken in response to the Israeli allegations and hear concerns. Several ambassadors described the meeting as constructive.
China’s UN Ambassador Zhang Jun said Guterres shared information with donors about the individual accusations made against UNRWA staff. “We are at a very critical moment in coping with the humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza and the war is still going on,” Zhang told reporters. “We should not allow these individual cases to dilute our attention in pursuing a ceasefire.”
An Israeli intelligence dossier, seen by Reuters on Monday, includes accusations that some UNRWA staff took part in abductions and killings during the 7 October raid that sparked the Israeli bombardment of Gaza. It also alleges that 190 UNRWA employees have doubled as Hamas or Islamic Jihad “militants”.
The Palestinians have accused Israel of falsifying information to tarnish UNRWA. The apartheid state has killed 130 UNRWA staff during its military offensive in Gaza.
According to UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric yesterday, Israel has not yet shared the intelligence dossier with the organisation.
UNRWA employs 13,000 people in Gaza, running the enclave’s schools, primary healthcare clinics and other social services, and distributing humanitarian aid.
“Every year, UNRWA shares its list of staff with the host countries where it works,” said Dujarric. “For the work that it does in Gaza and the West Bank, UNRWA shares the list of staff with both the Palestinian Authority and the Israeli government, as the occupying power for those areas.”
Earlier on Tuesday, the UN Security Council expressed concern about the “dire and rapidly deteriorating humanitarian situation” in Gaza, and urged all parties to work with UN Humanitarian and Reconstruction Coordinator for the enclave, Sigrid Kaag. The statement by the 15-member council came after Kaag briefed the body behind closed doors for the first time since she was appointed about a month ago. She said that there was “no substitute” for the humanitarian role of UNRWA.
“There is no way that any organisation can replace or be the substitute for the tremendous capacity, the fabric of UNRWA, its ability and knowledge of the population in Gaza,” Kaag told reporters after the briefing.
Source: Middle East Monitor
