Israel claimed some of the foremost UN agency in Gaza’s staff of being involved in the terror attacks carried out by Hamas on October 7, which has left the agency in disarray.
Following the unpublicized allegations, the UNRWA terminated the employment of multiple staff members. A number of other nations, including the US, have also stopped providing funding to the organisation, which employs about 13,000 individuals throughout Gaza, as the besieged Palestinian neighbourhood continues to experience a humanitarian crisis.
Nine of the 12 UNRWA employees at the center of the allegations had been fired, according to a statement released on Sunday by UN Secretary-General António Guterres. Two other people’s identities were still “being clarified,” and one other person had passed away.
Table of Contents
“Any employee of the United Nations who participated in operates of terror will face consequences, including criminal prosecution,” stated Guterres, who also announced that a separate investigation would soon be conducted. He did, however, call on nations to keep funding UNRWA, which provides support to two million Gazans who rely on “critical aid for daily survival.” Nine nations have halted funding for the primary UN agency in Gaza as a result of the allegations.
“There has to be accountability for the heinous allegations made against these employees,” Guterres declared. “However, it is not right to penalize the hundreds of thousands of men as well as women who are employed by UNRWA, many of whom are in some of the riskiest conditions for humanitarian workers,” he continued. “The impoverished populations they serve have to have their urgent needs met.” What we know is as follows.
UNRWA: What is it?
In order to provide humanitarian aid to Palestinians who had been displaced by the 1948 Arab Israeli War, the United Nations established UNRWA. As per the organization’s description, Palestinian refugees are defined as individuals who lost their home and source of income due to the 1948 War and whose usual place of residency was Palestine between June 1, 1946, and May 15, 1948.
There are currently 5.9 million people who meet those criteria. Restoring the Palestinians’ right to return home has been rejected by Israel, which claims that doing so would distort the nation’s Jewish identity.
The General Assembly of the United Nations, which is a voting body made up of all member states, has frequently extended UNRWA’s mandate since it was first established. On its website, the organization states that it has helped four generations of the Palestinian territories’ refugees with education, healthcare, camp facilities social services, and emergency support—including during times of conflict. The UNRWA reports that since the start of the Israel-Hamas conflict, at least 152 of its employees have died in Gaza.
What accusations are made?
Regarding the events of the 7th of October, neither the Jewish state nor UNRWA offered information about the type of involvement or the quantity of UNRWA employees that are purportedly involved. But according to an Israeli official who spoke with a news channel on Friday, Israel provided UNRWA and the US with information regarding 12 employees who believed to have participated on the 7th of October attacks.
According to UNRWA Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini, he has been notified of “information regarding the purported involvement of multiple employees.” He made the decision, according to a statement, “to instantly terminate the employment agreements of these staff members or launch a probe in order to discover the truth,” in order to safeguard the organization’s capacity to provide humanitarian assistance in Gaza.
He said that any UNRWA staff member implicated in terrorist activities “will be held accountable, regardless of criminal prosecution.” The Israel Defense Forces claimed in an interview to neural networks on Saturday that UNRWA resources were utilized for “terrorist purposes” as well as to the staffers’ purported involvement on October 7.
“The Intelligence Directorate assembled evidence suggesting the use of UNRWA resources for terrorist activities, as well as a case implicating multiple UNRWA employees for their purported roles in the massacre,” the IDF statement stated.
When news channel questioned UNRWA about the allegation regarding its facilities, the organization said, “At this time, we don’t have further information on this.” As part of the inquiry that UNRWA’s Commissioner General has asked them to conduct, the Department of Internal Oversight Services, the UN’s internal oversight body, will examine each of these claims.
In a statement issued on Saturday, Hamas condemned the decision to terminate the contracts of the workers and charged Israel with attempting to weaken UNRWA and other groups that are delivering aid to Gaza.
What kind of relationship does Israel have with the UN at the moment?
In recent months, Israel’s relations with the UN at large have reached an all-time low. Over 26,000 Palestinians have died as a result of Israel’s war in Gaza, which has drawn harsh criticism from senior UN officials, according to the region’s Hamas-run health authority. UN calls for a ceasefire have infuriated Israeli diplomats.
When António Guterres, the UN Secretary-General, brought the issue prior to the United Nations Security Council in December, Israeli officials retaliated. This was a rare use of diplomatic leverage. Guterres urged the 15-member council to unite in calling for a complete humanitarian ceasefire and to “press to prevent a humanitarian catastrophe” in a letter to them.
A ceasefire, according to Israeli Ambassador to the UN Gilad Erdan, “cements Hamas’ control of Gaza.” Erdan chastised Guterres for the decision, pointing out that similar actions hadn’t been taken in response to recent conflicts in Ukraine, Yemen, or Syria. On Friday, UNRWA made allegations. Simultaneously, the UN’s highest court commanded Israel to take prompt action to avert genocide in Gaza, without explicitly demanding a ceasefire.
Israel has long been an adversary of UNRWA. UNRWA disputes accusations made by Israel that it is inciting anti-Israel sentiment. Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, attempted to dismantle the UN organization in 2017 and suggested that it be combined with the primary UN refugee agency.
UNRWA has questioned “the inspiration of those who render such claims” and has consistently refuted accusations that it is teaching enmity in its schools or that its help is being redirected to Hamas. The organization called the October 7 Hamas attack “abhorrent.”
How has the globe responded?
A number of Western nations have declared that they will no longer be providing funding to UNRWA in response to the accusations. On Friday, the US State Department announced that it had “temporarily paused additional funding” for the organisation. Among others, Canada, the UK, and Germany did the same.
With “no plans to pause funding for UNRWA’s vital Gaza work,” Ireland declared on Saturday. The country’s foreign minister, Micheál Martin, tweeted that he had “full confidence” in Lazzarini’s decision to “investigate thoroughly.”
A select group of nations, including the Netherlands, Germany, and Switzerland, stopped funding UNRWA in response to the accusations. The foreign minister of Switzerland declared, “Switzerland has no patience for any assistance for terrorism as well as any act that leads to hatred or violence,” and stated that her nation “expects the same” from its allies.
On Saturday, the Norwegian government announced that it would keep funding UNRWA while it awaited the investigation’s conclusion. The most significant humanitarian agency in Gaza is UNRWA, and the situation there is dire. Norway is still providing UNRWA support to the Palestinian people. The Palestinian Authority representative for Norway wrote on X, previously known as Twitter, that “international assistance to Palestine is required now more than ever.”
The Global Court of Justice’s decision was announced on the same day as the allegations, which is why Palestinian National Initiative Secretary General Mustafa Barghouthi called the decision to halt funding “shameful.”
The nations slashing funding have been urged to “immediately retract their decision,” according to the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO). Husseim Al-Sheick, secretary-general of PLO, stated that there are “great political and relief risks” associated with the funding suspension. Yoav Gallant, Israel’s defense minister, applauded the US on Friday for pausing funding for UNRWA, and Israel Katz, the country’s foreign minister, has called on more countries to follow suit.
UNRWA’s reaction
UNRWA chief Lazzarini called the funding suspensions “shocking” and asked them to think again in a statement released on Saturday. He cautioned that such choices jeopardies the organization’s ability to provide humanitarian aid to millions of people.
“Sanctioning an organization and the community it serves due to accusations of criminal activity against certain individuals would be incredibly reckless, particularly during a period of conflict, relocation, and political unrest in the area,” Lazzarini’s statement stated.
Every year, UNRWA provides a list of all of its employees to host nations, including Israel. The Agency never got complaints about any particular employees.
UNRWA has long struggled with funding, and the temporary suspension of support by important donors raises concerns regarding whether it will be capable to keep on aiding the Gaza population in the face of mounting famine fears.
The largest donor to the organization is from the US. Under Donald Trump’s presidency, support was completely eliminated before being reinstated under Joe Biden.
Top Related Posts of Author
Crumbling the Israel-Gaza Clash
Why US stop shorts Ceasefire in Gaza, but UN approves Aid.
Israel-Gaza war in real time: 70 Israeli soldiers killed in a “massacre” in Gaza.
Israel Gaza war: Blinken demands for the protection of civilians, dozens of deaths in Gaza.
