France joins freeze of UNRWA funds, becoming the latest country to take such action following accusations of staff involvement in the October 7 attack by Hamas.
The Secretary General of the United Nations on Sunday called on the United States and other countries to resume funding from the main aid agency in the Gaza Strip after Israel accused a dozen employees to have participated in the Hamas attack who started the war.
US President Joe Biden announced the first deaths of US military personnel in the region since the start of the Gaza war, and blamed Iranian-backed militias for the drone attack in Jordan, near the Syrian border, which injured “a lot” other people. Meanwhile, U.S. officials said negotiators were close to concluding a ceasefire agreement which would put an end, for two months, to the deadliest Israeli-Palestinian violence in history.
The war killed more than 26,000 Palestiniansaccording to local health authorities, destroyed large swaths of Gaza and displaced nearly 85% of the territory’s population. The October 7 Hamas attack in southern Israel killed approximately 1,200 peoplemostly civilians, and the militants captured approximately 250 hostages.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, warned that the Palestinian refugee agency (UNRWA) would be forced to cut aid to more than 2 million Palestinians in Gaza from February. The besieged territory is in the grip of a serious humanitarian crisis, with a quarter of the population facing famine, bombings, and Israeli restrictions which hamper the delivery of aid.
“The alleged heinous acts of these staff members must have consequences“Guterres said in a statement.
“But the tens of thousands of men and women who work for UNRWA, often in some of the most dangerous situations for aid workers, must not be penalized. The urgent needs of the desperate populations they serve must be met“.
UNRWA employees dismissed
He stated that of the 12 employees, nine were immediately firedone has been confirmed dead and two are still being identified.
He added that they would be held accountable, including through criminal prosecution. UNRWA provides basic services, from medical care to education, to Palestinian families who fled or were driven out of what is now Israel during the 1948 war which surrounded the creation of the country.
They live in refugee camps built in Gaza, the Israeli-occupied West Bank, Jordan, Lebanon and Syria. The refugees and their descendants number around 6 million, and in Gaza they make up the majority of the population. UNRWA, which employs some 13,000 people in the Gaza Strip, expanded its activities during the war and runs shelters that accommodate hundreds of thousands of newly displaced people.
More than 2 million of the 2.3 million inhabitants of the territory today depend on the agency’s programs for their “simple survival“, particularly in terms of food and accommodation, declared Philippe Lazzarini, Commissioner General of UNRWA. This is a lifesaver who could “collapse at any time” he said after the funding was suspended.
The United States, which is the agency’s largest donor, immediately cut its funding over the weekend, followed by eight other countries, including the United Kingdom and Germany.
Together, these countries provided nearly 60% of UNRWA budget in 2022.