At the beginning of the year, the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees fell into disrepute. Now relatives of Hamas victims are making serious allegations.
Relatives of victims of the Hamas attack on Israel on October 7 have sued the UN Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA). According to court documents filed in New York on Monday, they accuse the agency of contributing to the attack by the radical Islamic Palestinian organization.
The UN Palestinian relief agency came under massive criticism earlier this year after Israel made allegations that 12 UNRWA staff members were involved in the unprecedented Hamas attack. In response to the allegations, numerous donor countries suspended their financial aid. A commission of inquiry led by former French Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna identified some “neutrality-related problems” in April, but said that Israel had not provided “evidence” for its allegations.
UNRWA “knowingly” provided money to Hamas
In their lawsuit, the families of the victims now accuse the aid agency of having helped Hamas build its “terrorist infrastructure” for more than ten years. UNRWA “knowingly” provided Hamas with money “to pay dealers in weapons, explosives and other terrorist equipment.” When asked by the AFP news agency, the aid agency initially did not comment.
The UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East employs more than 30,000 people. The organization, founded in 1949, has a UN mandate to provide humanitarian aid and protection to Palestinian refugees registered in its area of operations. UNRWA chief Philippe Lazzarini accuses Israel of conducting a campaign against his organization. At the end of May, he wrote in the New York Times that since October 7, at least 192 UNRWA employees had been killed in the Gaza Strip and more than 170 UNRWA facilities had been damaged or destroyed.
Foreign Minister Baerbock visits the Middle East
Meanwhile, Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock is consulting with Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammed Mustafa about the future role of the Palestinian Authority (PA). From the Green politician’s point of view, the PA could play an important role in a post-war order in the Gaza Strip. The talks in Ramallah in the West Bank will also focus on the reform efforts of the Palestinian Authority.
Before the meeting with Mustafa, Baerbock had the head of the German representative office in Ramallah, Oliver Owcza, show her the situation in the West Bank and the border area with Israel from a vantage point. Critics accuse the right-wing extremist parts of the Israeli government in particular of wanting to strangle the PA by cutting Israeli payments to the Palestinian Authority. This could mean that some PA employees’ salaries could no longer be paid.
Israel’s right-wing extremist Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich recently announced that he wanted to withhold funds amounting to 32.5 million dollars (around 30.3 million euros) from the Palestinian Authority and instead pay them out to Israeli terror victims.
At the Herzliya Security Conference near Tel Aviv the evening before, Baerbock had stated that if the PA was to take on the role of the legitimate government authority in Gaza at some point, it would have to be able to guarantee this – including with police and security forces. She warned: “In the current situation, it is dangerous and counterproductive to destroy and destabilize established PA structures.” But that is exactly what the illegal expansion of Israeli settlement projects in the West Bank is doing.
Baerbock on mediation tour
Like many partners in Europe, the USA and the region, Baerbock is striving for a two-state solution between Israelis and Palestinians, in which an independent Palestinian state exists peacefully side by side with Israel. Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu rejects such a solution, as does the Islamist Hamas.
A meeting between Baerbock and Netanyahu is not planned this time. The most recent meeting between the two politicians in mid-April resulted in a loud argument. This is Baerbock’s eighth trip to Israel since the bloody Hamas terror attack on October 7.
On Monday evening, she met in Jerusalem with former general Benny Gantz, who recently left Netanyahu’s war cabinet because the government had not drawn up a plan for a post-war order in the Gaza Strip. To date, Netanyahu has not presented such a plan – probably in order not to offend his ultra-right coalition partners, on whom his political survival depends. They are calling for the re-establishment of Israeli settlements in the Gaza Strip. Nothing was initially known about the content of the conversation.
On Tuesday, Baerbock also plans to meet with her colleague Israel Katz. The focus will likely be on Israel’s actions in the Gaza Strip and the dramatic humanitarian situation of the civilian population there. A meeting is planned later with relatives of kidnapping victims who are still being held in the Gaza Strip.
Hezbollah withdrawal demanded
Against the backdrop of growing concerns about an escalation of the conflict between Israel and the pro-Iranian Hezbollah militia in Lebanon, Baerbock will fly on to Lebanon in the afternoon. In the capital Beirut, talks with acting Prime Minister Najib Mikati and acting Foreign Minister Abdullah Bou Habib are planned before returning to Berlin.
At the Herzliya conference, Baerbock called for a complete and verifiable withdrawal of the Shiite Hezbollah militia from the border area between Lebanon and Israel. The increase in violence on Israel’s northern border is a major concern. “The risk of unintentional escalation and a full-scale war is growing daily. Extreme caution is therefore required,” said Baerbock.
Israel wants to use diplomatic pressure to get the militia to withdraw behind the Litani River, 30 kilometers from the border – as stipulated in a UN resolution. If necessary, however, Israel is also prepared to use a larger military operation, Israeli Defense Minister Joav Galant recently warned.
In Washington, he met with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken. They discussed efforts to achieve a ceasefire in Gaza that could lead to the release of Israeli hostages and relief for the Palestinian population. Blinken informed Galant about current diplomatic efforts to ensure security and reconstruction in Gaza after the end of the conflict, said spokesman Matthew Miller.
Source: Stern
I have been working in the news industry for over 6 years, first as a reporter and now as an editor. I have covered politics extensively, and my work has appeared in major newspapers and online news outlets around the world. In addition to my writing, I also contribute regularly to 24 Hours World.
