LONDON: The international community should continue to support UNRWA in its efforts to provide vital aid to Palestinians in Gaza regardless of the allegations made against some of its workers, Jordan’s Foreign Minister said.
According to the Jordan News Agency, Ayman Safadi said in a telephone call to Philippe Lazzarini, commissioner-general of the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees, that the organization should not be subjected to collective punishment because of the claims made against 12 of its 13,000 staff members in Gaza.
Several nations, including Australia, Finland, Germany, Italy and the UK on Saturday followed the lead of the US in suspending funding to the agency in response to allegations made by Israel that several UNRWA workers were involved in the Hamas’ attack on Oct. 7.
Safadi and Lazzarini urged all of the countries that have suspended their support to reverse their decisions. The financial aid they provide is vital to the agency’s efforts to help the 1.9 million Palestinians who have been displaced since the start of the war in Gaza.
Lazzarini said UNRWA had asked the UN Office of Internal Oversight Services, the organization’s highest investigative authority, to conduct an investigation into the claims made against its workers, whose employment contracts have been terminated.
Safadi said people in Gaza were facing famine because Israel had refused to allow humanitarian aid into the enclave, in clear violation of international humanitarian law and the ruling by the International Court of Justice.
Both officials said the shortfall in funding would have an immediate impact on the agency’s ability to provide essential humanitarian services, which in turn would exacerbate the suffering faced by Gazans.
Francesca Albanese, the UN’s special rapporteur for the occupied Palestinian territories, said the decision to pause funding “overtly defies” the ICJ’s order to provide effective aid in Gaza and could be a violation of the international genocide convention.
