(Bloomberg) -- More than a dozen countries stopped funding the UN agency that supports Palestinian refugees earlier this year after Israel accused 13 of its staffers of direct involvement in the Oct. 7 Hamas attacks that killed some 1,200 people. All of those countries — apart from the United States — have since reinstated funding for the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East, according to a spokesperson for the body. While this support, along with private donations, allows UNRWA to supply aid at full capacity until September, its longer-term funding situation remains uncertain.
1. What was the significance of the funding boycotts?
Israel has long accused UNRWA of giving cover to Hamas, which rules the Gaza Strip and is designated a terrorist group by the US and European Union. While the US has cut off support for UNRWA before, the one-year funding prohibition voted by Congress in March came at the worst possible time for the people of Gaza. Some 39,000 Palestinians have been killed in Israel’s conflict with Hamas in the territory, according to the Hamas-run health ministry, and more than 2 million people have been displaced. Public pressure at home has led the UK and some other nations to restore their UNRWA funding. The US government in June announced $340 million in funding for humanitarian assistance in Gaza, which will need to be delivered via other channels than UNRWA. Other international aid groups are operating there, but UNRWA is by far the largest.
2. What were Israel’s allegations against UNRWA staffers?
An Israeli intelligence assessment, shared with the US and international media outlets, accused 13 UNRWA employees, including teachers and social workers, of direct involvement in the Oct. 7 massacre. According to the document seen by Bloomberg News, 12 of them were members of either Hamas or Palestinian Islamic Jihad, another militant group; four participated in kidnappings of Israelis; six infiltrated into Israel during the Hamas invasion; and some helped coordinate weapons used in the attacks. According to the Israeli assessment, as many at 10% of UNRWA employees are members of militant groups. Bloomberg News could not independently verify these claims. The Israeli army throughout the war has also released footage of Hamas military installations and weapon depots it says were stashed at or in tunnels beneath UNRWA’s facilities in Gaza.
3. How did UNRWA respond?
UNRWA said it fired several employees over the Israeli allegations and commissioned an independent review, led by former French foreign minister Catherine Colonna. The agency vowed that those “involved in acts of terror will be held accountable, including through criminal prosecution.” The UN agency pleaded with the US and other countries to restore assistance. Philippe Lazzarini, the UNRWA commissioner general, called the government decisions to freeze funding “shocking.”
4. What did the independent commission find?
In April, the UN-commissioned review said Israel had yet to provide evidence that UNRWA workers have ties to terrorist groups. It found “neutrality-related issues persist” at UNRWA, including cases where facilities were “misused for political or military gains.” A separate UN review is looking into Israel’s claims that several UNRWA workers took part in the Oct. 7 massacre.
5. How did donor countries respond to Israel’s claims?
While Israel’s allegations initially prompted dozens of countries to pause their funding, most later reinstated it and cast doubt on the claims. That includes the European Commission, which in March decided to approve a donation of €50 million ($54 million), though it withheld an additional €32 million until an investigation is completed. The European Commission’s humanitarian aid chief, Janez Lenarcic, said he’s seen no evidence from Israel backing up its claims, according to Reuters. Sweden, Canada, Finland and Australia also resumed payments to the agency in March, followed by the UK in July. However, the US, UNRWA’s largest annual donor, banned funding the agency until mid-2025 as part of a congressional spending bill.
6. What is UNRWA?
Created in 1949, UNRWA was established to provide emergency relief to some 750,000 Palestinians who fled or were forced from their homes in the war that followed Israel’s declaration of statehood. Seventy five years later, UNRWA continues to count those who are still alive and their descendants — a group numbering more than 5 million — as refugees because no permanent solution for them has been found. The agency provides food, shelter, health services and schools for refugees in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, Jordan, Lebanon and Syria. Most of UNRWA’s funding comes from contributions from UN member states — primarily the US and European countries — with some costs covered by the UN budget. Its 2023 budget appeal was $1.6 billion.
7. What’s UNRWA’s role in Gaza?
Four-fifths of Gaza’s population of 2.2 million is made up of Palestinians displaced in the 1948 war with Israel and their descendants. UNRWA employs more than 13,000 people in Gaza and runs a network of schools and welfare programs. During the ongoing war with Israel, it says it has offered shelter to more than 1 million fleeing Palestinians and emergency health-care services. According to UNRWA’s commissioner general, 2.1 million Palestinians in the Gaza Strip now depend on the agency “for their sheer survival.”
8. What’s the history of Israel’s complaints against UNRWA?
Israel has previously alleged that UNRWA allowed Hamas to stockpile weapons and fire rockets from UN facilities, including during a previous war nearly a decade ago. More broadly, it accuses UNRWA of promoting hatred of Israel in its schools and encouraging the continued, decades-long displacement of Palestinian refugees rather than their resettlement and rehabilitation. It has long complained that UNRWA, unlike the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, allows unlimited generations of descendants, including those born in other countries or who have become citizens of other countries, to be classified as refugees in perpetuity. The US under President Donald Trump cut funding to UNRWA in 2018 over Israel’s concerns; the assistance was restored in 2021 under President Joe Biden.
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