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ISRAEL has never expressed concern about anyone employed by the UN Palestinian refugee agency UNRWA despite being provided with staff lists since 2011, a UN panel reported on Monday night.
The revelation undermines Israel’s claim that governments and the UN should stop working with UNRWA because it has supposedly been infiltrated by Palestinian resistance group Hamas.
The panel chaired by former French foreign minister Catherine Colonna was appointed to look at the aid agency’s neutrality, after Israel accused 12 of its 30,000 employees of having participated in the October 7 attack.
The panel noted that “Israel made public claims that a significant number of UNRWA employees are members of terrorist organisations. However, Israel has yet to provide supporting evidence.”
Despite the lack of evidence, Israel’s allegation saw several Western countries suspend funding for the aid agency just as famine gripped Gaza because of Israel’s blockade of food supplies and disruption of farming through its ground invasion. The pause in funding, still maintained by Britain among others, has so far cost about $450 million (£360m) in aid that should have reached Palestinians.
