The allegations against staffers with the U.N. agency for Palestinian refugees prompted Western countries to freeze funds vital for the body, which is a lifeline for desperate Palestinians in Gaza. The U.N. fired nine of the 12 accused workers and condemned “the abhorrent alleged acts” of staff members.
The accusations come after years of tensions between Israel and the agency known as UNRWA over its work in Gaza, where it employs roughly 13,000 people.
Despite the humanitarian catastrophe unfolding in the besieged territory — where Israel’s war against Hamas has displaced the vast majority of the population and officials say a quarter of Palestinians are starving — major donors, including the U.S. and Britain, have cut funding. On Monday, Japan and Austria joined them in pausing assistance.
The document said intelligence gathered showed that at least 190 UNRWA workers were Hamas or Islamic Jihad operatives, without providing evidence.
It wouldn’t shock me at all that we find out later that Israel was bs’ing about this and Palestinians starved to death because of it.
So far UNRWA’s track record is on Israel’s side, and for the UNRWA to immediately fire 9 of those accused of collaborating with Hamas means the evidence that was presented to them was exceptionally compelling:
Today, in the course of the regular inspection of its premises, UNRWA discovered rockets hidden in a vacant school in the Gaza Strip.
The agency protested strongly to the relevant authorities in Gaza to express outrage and condemnation of the presence of such a structure underneath one of its installations,
To their merit though, whenever they fucked up they admitted it.
It’s crazy to me that these countries cut funding, even after they fired those people. UNRWA is providing much needed help, from what I’ve heard of the reporting so far, and this disrupts those efforts a lot.
even after they fired those people
An independent investigation is still ongoing as there are 190 accused, not just 9. Those 9 employees are only those against whom the evidence was compelling enough to prompt an immediate firing by the UNRWA.
