According to the UN, UNRWA provides education, health and aid to millions of Palestinians in Gaza, the West Bank, Jordan, Lebanon and Syria. The review states that UNRWA shares staff lists every year with the Palestinian Authority, Israel, Jordan, Lebanon and Syria. In addition, it states that Israel has not raised any concerns with UNRWA, based on these employee lists, since 2011.
In March 2024, “Israel made public claims that a significant number of UNRWA employees are members of terrorist organizations. However, Israel has not yet provided supporting evidence for this,” the review states. Israel increased its accusations in March, saying that over 450 UNRWA personnel were active in terrorist groups in Gaza. UNRA employs 32,000 people throughout its area of activity, 13,000 of them in Gaza.
Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman, Oren Marmorsteinyesterday accused more than 2,135 UNRWA employees of being members of Hamas or the Palestinian Islamic Jihad. According to him, “the Colonna report ignores the seriousness of the problem, and offers cosmetic solutions that do not deal with the enormous scope of Hamas’ infiltration of UNRWA,” he said, He added that Israel calls on donors not to give money to UNRWA in Gaza and instead – to finance other humanitarian organizations in the Gaza Strip
Colonna claimed that she had good relations with Israel during the review, but was not surprised by the Israeli response. When asked about Marmorstein’s comment, UNRA’s communications director said, Juliet Thomas: “We encourage member states that have information – to share it with the ongoing investigation and not with the media.”
UN Secretary General, Antonio Guterres called on all countries to actively support UNRWA because it is a “lifeline for Palestinian refugees in the region.” Israel’s accusations against a dozen UNRWA personnel led 16 countries to suspend or suspend funding of $450 million to UNRWA.
UNRWA said that 10 of these countries have resumed funding, but the US, UK, Italy, the Netherlands, Austria and Lithuania have not. A UN spokesman said UNRWA currently has enough funding to pay for operations until June.
Following the Israeli accusations against UNRWA, the US, UNRWA’s largest donor at $300-400 million a year, stopped funding, and the US Congress suspended donations until at least March 2025.
UNRWA said it had canceled the contracts of 10 of the 12 teams accused by Israel of involvement in the October 7 attacks, and that the other two are dead. The Colonna review noted that UNRWA had a “more developed approach” to neutrality than other similar UN aid groups. M. “Despite this strong framework, problems related to neutrality persist.”
head of UNRA, Philip Lazzarinisaid yesterday that UNRWA is developing an action plan to advance the recommendations of Colonna’s audit. “The recommendations in this report will further strengthen our efforts and response at one of the most difficult moments in the history of the Palestinian people,” he said.