The UN humanitarian program for Palestinian refugees accused of covering up numerous acts of terrorism?
The file from the Israeli intelligence services, information from which led UNRWA to investigate twelve of its employees suspected of having participated in the bloody Hamas attacks on October 7, was consulted by Reuters.
It appears, according to the news agency, that nearly 190 employees in the Gaza Strip are “hardened fighters” of Hamas.
And of the 13,000 employees who work for the agency in the Gaza enclave, around 10% of staff are believed to be more generally affiliated with Hamas and Islamic Jihad.
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This assessment results from cross-referencing the list of UNRWA personnel provided each year to the Israeli Foreign Ministry with a directory of Hamas members that soldiers found on a computer during a recent operation inside Gaza. , according to military officials interviewed by the New York Times.
Since Friday evening and the announcement by the director of UNRWA of the suspension of twelve employees suspected of having taken part in the attacks of October 7, the UN agency has been in turmoil.
According to Reuters, the file of only six pages contains the names and photos of 11 of these employees.
One is a school counselor who, according to Israeli reports, helped his son kidnap an Israeli woman.
Another, a social worker, is accused of being involved in the transfer to Gaza of the body of a killed Israeli soldier and of having coordinated the movements of vans used for arms deliveries and to bring objects back to the enclave looted from across the border.
A third Palestinian in the file is accused of having participated in a carnage in the border kibbutz of Be'eri, where a tenth of the inhabitants were killed.
A fourth is accused of having participated in the attack in Re'im, where the electronic music festival took place where more than 360 civilians were murdered and many, undoubtedly, tortured.
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The United Nations has not officially received a copy of the file, UN spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric said Monday.
The person who provided the file to Reuters said the file had been communicated to Washington.
On Friday, the United States suspended its funding for the UN program, of which it is the largest donor, leading to thirteen other countries participating in the fund.
If the next American payment was not due until June, other countries were to release funds in February.
Half of Gaza's population depends on UNRWA program
A major problem when nearly 2 million Palestinians in Gaza live in the greatest deprivation since the outbreak of the war.
Before Israel responded to the attacks, half of Gaza's population depended daily on the United Nations program for food, health care or the education of their children.
The agency said Monday it would not be able to continue its operations in Gaza and the wider region beyond the end of February if funding was not restored.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres is due to meet major donors in New York on Tuesday.
On Sunday, he said he was “horrified” at the idea that employees could have participated in the bloody attacks, promising criminal consequences depending on the conclusions of the internal investigation.
He also urged donors not to cut funds.
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He spoke with the leaders of Jordan and Egypt on Monday and also met with the head of UN internal investigations.
The European Union, which last year gave 400 million euros, asked Unrwa on Monday to “accept that an audit be carried out by independent experts chosen by the European Commission”.
The Palestinians have accused Israel of falsifying information to tarnish UNRWA.