Israel still hasn't provided evidence to back up claims UNRWA staff linked to Gaza militants, panel says
CBC
A review of the United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) has found that it has "robust" frameworks to ensure compliance with humanitarian neutrality principles, though issues persist, in a report that could prompt some donors to review funding freezes.
The wide-ranging 48-page report, released Monday, also said Israel had yet to provide supporting evidence for its claim — based on a staff list it was given in March — that a significant number of UNRWA staff were members of militant groups.
The UN appointed former French foreign minister Catherine Colonna to lead the UNRWA neutrality review in February, after Israel alleged that 12 UNRWA staff took part in the Hamas-led Oct. 7 attacks, which prompted Israel to declare war on the militant group and to carry out devastating aerial and ground assaults on Gaza.
Israel stepped up its accusations against the UN agency in March, saying over 450 UNRWA staff were operatives in Gaza-based militant groups.
From 2017 to 2022, the report said the annual number of allegations of neutrality being breached at UNRWA ranged from seven to 55. But between January 2022 and February 2024, UN investigators received 151 allegations, most related to social media posts "made public by external sources," it said.
The report said Israel had made public claims based on an UNRWA staff list provided to it in March that "a significant number" of UNRWA staff were members of "terrorist organizations."
"However, Israel has yet to provide supporting evidence of this," the report said.
In a key section on the neutrality of staff, the panel said UNRWA shares lists of staff with host countries for its 32,000 staff, including about 13,000 in Gaza.
But it said Israeli officials never expressed concern and informed panel members it did not consider the list "a screening or vetting process" but rather a procedure to register diplomats.
The Israeli Foreign Ministry informed the panel that until March 2024 the staff lists did not include Palestinian identification numbers, the report said.
Israel's mission to the UN did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment on the Colonna-led review.
In a separate investigation, a UN oversight body is looking into the Israeli allegations against the 12 UNRWA staff.
UNRWA said it terminated the contracts of 10 of the 12 staff accused by Israel of involvement in the Oct. 7 attacks, and that the other two have died.
According to the Israeli government, militants killed some 1,200 people in the Oct. 7 attacks. Israel's war in Gaza has killed more than 34,000 people, the majority of which were women and children, according to Gaza health authorities.
