UNITED NATIONS/BEIRUT, April 23 — Israel has yet to provide evidence for its accusations that hundreds of staff with the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (Unrwa) are members of terrorist groups, according to a review of the agency’s neutrality released on Monday that could prompt some donor countries to review funding freezes.
The United Nations appointed former French foreign minister Catherine Colonna to lead the Unrwa review of Unrwa’s ability to ensure neutrality and respond to allegations of breaches in February after Israel accused 12 Unrwa staff took part in the Hamas-led October 7 attacks which triggered the Gaza war.
A separate investigation by internal UN investigators is looking into the Israeli allegations against the 12 Unrwa staff. The UN said last week that the UN Office of Internal Oversight Services (OIOS) has had “a number of meetings and cooperation from the Israeli authorities on this”.
Unrwa provides education, health and aid to millions of Palestinians in Gaza, the West Bank, Jordan, Lebanon and Syria. The review said Unrwa shares staff lists annually with the Palestinian Authority, Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, and Syria.
The review said Israel had not raised any concerns with Unrwa, based on those staff lists, since 2011. Then in March 2024, “Israel made public claims that a significant number of Unrwa employees are members of terrorist organisations”.
“However, Israel has yet to provide supporting evidence of this,” the review said.
Israel stepped up its accusations in March, saying over 450 Unrwa staff were military operatives in Gaza terrorist groups. Unrwa employs 32,000 people across its area of operations, 13,000 of them in Gaza.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has called on all countries to actively support Unrwa as it is “a lifeline for Palestine refugees in the region”.
Israel‘s allegations led 16 states to pause or suspend funding of US$450 million (RM2.1 billion) to Unrwa, a blow to an agency grappling with the humanitarian crisis that has swept Gaza since Israel launched its offensive there.
Unrwa said 10 of those countries had resumed funding, but the United States, Britain, Italy, the Netherlands, Austria and Lithuania had not.
— Reuters
