Israeli allegations against UNRWA amount to the mother of all lies: Former employee
Apr 22, 2024 #IsraelWar #IsraelHamasWar #UNRWA
An independent review of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian refugees has
Apr 22, 2024 #IsraelWar #IsraelHamasWar #UNRWA
An independent review of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian refugees has found that Israel has yet to provide supporting evidence of its accusations UNRWA employees are members of Hamas, and linked to the October 7th attacks on Israel.
The report, by a former French foreign minister, found staffing lists had regularly been provided for vetting since 2011, but Israel did not raise concerns.
Since the claim was made in January, many countries cut their funding to UNRWA, including the biggest funders, the US, Germany and the EU.
UNRWA supports 5.9 million people across five territories; Gaza, the Occupied West Bank, Lebanon, Jordan and Syria.
Often providing the basic necessities of life from food, to schools and even infrastructure in refugee camps.
Chris Gunness, the former chief spokesperson for the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), has spoken to Al Jazeera about the report by a former French foreign minister that we have been covering.
“I will welcome this report,” he said. “I think UNRWA will welcome it because it confirms that UNRWA is an indispensable lifeline for the people of the Middle East for refugees.”
“It also confirms UNRWA has established a significant number of mechanisms and procedures to ensure compliance with humanitarian principles, particularly neutrality, and it says UNRWA possesses a more robust approach to neutrality than any other UN or NGO organisation,” he said.
In late January, Israel accused 12 UNRWA workers from Gaza of involvement in October 7 attacks on southern Israel by the Qassam Brigades and other Palestinian armed groups, prompting key donors to halt funding to the agency.
Those allegations, Gunness said, “remain unsubstantiated; it would seem that the Israeli claims amount to the mother of all lies based on a dodgy dossier”.
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