Twelve employees of the UN Agency for Palestinian Refugees (UNRWA)) were fired because they would be involved in the Hamas attack against Israel on October 7. This is what she communicated, Philippe Lazzarinithe head of the organization, after Israel I would communicate that suspicion to you.
As stated Lazzarinidecided to “terminate with immediate effect the contracts of these staff members and initiate a investigation to establish the truth without delay.” organism has been in the crosshairs of the Israeli authorities for some time.
The tense relationship between the UN Agency for Palestinian Refugees and Israel
After the news broke, the head of UNRWA said in a statement that “any employee who has been involved in acts of terrorism will be held accountable, including through legal actions“.
For his part, the Israeli Foreign Minister demanded a “comprehensive internal investigation into the activities of Hamas and other terrorist organizations” at UNRWA. Israel had already accused the UN agency of corruption and collusion with Hamas, which the organization always denied.
Relations between Israel and UNRWA got worse after the latter attributed the shooting at one of its reception centers for displaced people in Khan Younis, in southern Gaza, last Wednesday to Israeli tanks.
In that attack, at least 13 people were killed and 56 wounded and the agency denounced a “flagrant violation of the fundamental rules of war.” For its part, the Israeli army stated that it was going to carry out a “thorough investigation” of its operations in the area, but He did not rule out Hamas’ responsibility for the attack.
The reaction of other countries to the layoffs at the UN
Shortly after learning about the layoffs at UNRWA, USA announced that it was suspendingtemporarily additional funding” to the organization. This is a serious blow to the agency, which has already suffered difficulties financing its operations in recent years.
Other countries joined the United States’ decision to suspend financing. Canada and Australia They were among the first to announce the same measure.
The Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wongsaid he was “deeply worried” about the accusations against UNRWA and stated that they were discussing the possibility of “temporarily pause the delivery of recent financing“In addition, he called for UNRWA’s “immediate response, including the termination of contracts and the initiation of an investigation,” he added.
For its part, Ahmed Hussen, the Canadian Minister of International Developmentannounced that his country “temporarily suspended all additional funding to UNRWA while (the organization) carries out a thorough investigation into these accusations.”
Then, Italy also decided suspend funding to the United Nations Palestinian Refugee Agency (UNRWA)something that was announced by the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Antonio Tajani. Through his X account, the minister stated: “The Italian government has suspended funding to UNRWA following the atrocious attack against Israel on October 7.”
Finally, the last one to “temporarily” suspend funding to the organization was United Kingdom. The British Foreign Office stated that the country is “dismayed by allegations that UNRWA personnel were involved in the October 7 attack on Israel” and announced that aid is suspended.
Source: Ambito
