Following the United States and Canada, Britain, Australia and Finland also announced that they would temporarily freeze additional funding for UNRWA while Israel investigates allegations against the organization. However, three other major donors, France, Germany and the EU, did not follow the US example, limiting themselves to expressing alarm at the allegations. Ireland has pointedly announced that it has no plans to suspend “essential work.”
Israel provided the allies with evidence of the involvement of 12 UNRWA workers in planning the October 7 attack and even their direct participation in the massacre of Israelis. The UN headquarters called the charges “horrifying and very serious,” The New York Times reports.
The head of UNRWA, Felippe Lazzarini, said on Friday that all employees against whom charges were brought were suspended from work, and each would bear criminal liability for involvement in terrorism.
In Gaza, UNRWA has a staff of about 13,000, the vast majority of whom are local Palestinians.
The US is UNRWA's largest donor. In 2022, the Americans donated $340 million to the agency working with Palestinian refugees; Britain, Canada, Australia and Finland collectively gave $66 million. Since the start of the war, Western donors have increased grants to UNRWA, as this organization is almost the only channel of humanitarian assistance to the population of Gaza.
Israel has long campaigned to eliminate UNRWA, the UN agency created to provide social assistance to Palestinian refugees. The population of Gaza consists of 80% descendants of refugees, UNRWA builds schools and hospitals for them, and provides food aid.
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