Israel will try to cease the UN agencies for Palestinian refugees from working in Gaza following the war, a minister warned Saturday, after accusing some UNRWA employees of participating in Hamas’s October 7 attack.
“Israel aimed to ensure UNRWA will not be a part of the day after”, Foreign Minister Israel Katz stated, adding that he would seek backing from the US, EU, and other major donors to the agency.
On Saturday, the Palestinian group Hamas slammed Israeli threats against UNRWA, urging the UN and other international bodies not to cave into the threats and blackmail.
UNRWA announced Friday that it has fired several staff accused by Israel of involvement in Hamas’s unprecedented October 7 attack, prompting the United States to halt essential financing.
Philippe Lazzarini, the agency’s head, promised to make accountable, including through criminal prosecution any UNRWA employee proven to have participated in terrorist acts.
“UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres vowed to conduct an urgent and comprehensive independent review of UNRWA”, his spokesman Stephane Dujarric noted.
The US State Department announced that it has temporarily paused additional funding for the agency while it evaluated the charges and the UN’s plan to address issues.
It went on to say, “Twelve employees may have been involved”.
Australia and Canada also announced that they had terminated financing for the agencies.
Israel’s continuous bombardment and siege of Gaza began shortly after Hamas’s unprecedented October 7 strikes, which killed around 1,140 people in Israel.
Militants also took approximately 250 hostages, and Israel claims about 132 of them are still in Gaza, including the bodies of at least 28 dead captives.
Israel has sworn to smash Hamas and Gaza’s health ministry reports that the Israeli military onslaught has killed at least 26,083 individuals, with women and children accounting for almost 70 percent of the total.
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