At least 15 donor countries, including Italy, have suspended funding to the United Nations Agency for Palestinian Refugees (UNRWA) following Israel's accusations that some staff members participated in the Hamas attacks of 7 October.
The European Commission announced yesterday that a "review" of the dossier will be carried out "in light of the UN investigations".
UNRWA has already fired several people and promised a thorough investigation into the allegations, while Israel has vowed to stop the agency's work in Gaza after the war.
Meanwhile, the head of the agency - Philippe Lazzarini - said that he will hold "accountable, including through criminal proceedings", any employee involved in "acts of terrorism".
For his part, the Secretary General of the United Nations - Antonio Guterres - asked States to "ensure the continuity" of the agency and confirmed that 12 UNRWA employees in Gaza are affected by these "extremely serious allegations", which are subject of internal UN investigations.
So far, the countries that have suspended their funding to the Agency are, in addition to Italy, the United States, Australia, the United Kingdom, Canada, Finland, France, Germany, Austria, Romania, Japan, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway and Switzerland.
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And so Guterres has called a meeting for today with the main UNRWA donor countries, "The secretary general is personally horrified by the accusations against UNRWA workers. But his message to donors, especially those who have suspended their contributions, is that they at least continue to ensure the continuity of UNRWA operations, given that there are tens of thousands of dedicated employees in every part of the region,” said Guterres spokesman Stéphane Dujarric.
And for this reason the secretary general "will host a meeting here in New York with major donors this afternoon, local time", he added.
Guterres already met yesterday with the United States representative to the UN, Linda Thomas-Greenfield, and spoke on this topic with some Middle Eastern leaders, including King Abdullah of Jordan and the Egyptian president, Abdel Fattah al-Sisi.
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