Germany will resume previously suspended funding for the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), media reported.
The German Foreign Ministry and the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development issued a joint statement: “The German government will soon continue cooperation with UNRWA in the Gaza Strip, as Australia, Canada, Sweden and Japan have already done.”
Earlier this week, UN Secretary-General António Guterres accepted the recommendations of an independent investigative team that examined evidence of the involvement of the UN Relief Agency for Palestine Refugees in terrorist activities in the Gaza Strip and returned a verdict that UNRWA remained neutral and “Israel has not proven the involvement of agency employees in terrorism.” He agreed with the head of UNRWA, Philippe Lazzarini, that the agency, with the support of the secretary general, would develop a plan to implement the commission’s recommendations, and also called on all stakeholders to actively support UNRWA, which is “the only salvation for Palestinian refugees in the region.”
The report, prepared by former French Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna, found that “Israel has failed to provide evidence of allegations that UNRWA employees in the Gaza Strip are linked to terrorist organizations.”
This report states that UNRWA “is indispensable for Palestinians in Gaza, Jordan, Lebanon, Syria and the West Bank (in the Arab localities of Judea and Samaria – editor’s note), and “although it can be used to ensure neutrality stronger mechanisms, UNRWA has already made significant progress in audits and internal controls “to ensure compliance with humanitarian principles.”
Recall that according to Israel, at least 12 UNRWA employees were directly involved in the Black Saturday massacre on October 7, another 30 aided or assisted in the commission of these attacks, and 12% of the organization’s employees are associated with terrorist groups.