Israel vows to stop UNRWA activities in Gaza after war
Israel has vowed to stop the UN agency at the heart of humanitarian efforts in Gaza from operating after the war, following the sacking of staff accused of involvement in the 7 October attack.
The UN agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA, said yesterday it had fired several employees over Israel's accusations, promising a thorough investigation into the claims, which were not specified.
Donors including Germany, Britain, Italy, Australia and Finland have followed the lead of the United States, which said it had suspended additional funding to the agency over the accusations.
Tánaiste Micheál Martin said that Ireland has "no plans" to suspend funding to the agency.
"In Gaza's rebuilding, UNRWA must be replaced with agencies dedicated to genuine peace and development," Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz said in a statement, urging more donors to suspend funding.
Hamas slammed Israeli "threats" against UNRWA, urging the United Nations and other international organisations not to "cave in to the threats and blackmail".
Relations between Israel and UNRWA, which have been strained for years, deteriorated further in recent days, with the UN agency condemning tank shelling it said had hit a shelter for displaced people in Gaza's main southern city of Khan Yunis.
The agency said tens of thousands of displaced people had been registered at the shelter and Wednesday's tank shelling killed 13 people.
Asked about the incident, the Israeli army said "a thorough review of the operations of the forces in the vicinity is underway", adding it was examining the possibility that the strike was a "result of Hamas fire".
UNRWA head Philippe Lazzarini slammed Wednesday's bombardment as a "blatant disregard of basic rules of war", with the compound clearly marked as a UN facility and its coordinates shared with Israeli authorities.
The Israeli army is the only force known to have tanks operating in Gaza.
The war in Gaza was sparked by Hamas's unprecedented 7 October attacks that resulted in about 1,140 deaths in Israel, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally of official Israeli figures.
Militants also seized about 250 hostages and Israel says around 132 of them remain in Gaza, including the bodies of at least 28 dead captives.
Israel has vowed to crush Hamas and Gaza's health ministry says the Israeli military offensive has killed at least 26,257 people, about 70 percent of them women and children.
Before fighting broke out, UNRWA struggled to meet funding requirements.
The agency's chronic budget shortfalls worsened dramatically in 2018 when former US president Donald Trump cut support to the agency.
But US President Joe Biden's administration has fully restored support, providing $340 million in 2022, making it the agency's largest bilateral donor.
The US State Department said Friday it had "temporarily paused additional funding" to the agency while it reviewed the claims as well as the UN's plan to address concerns.
Several key donor countries said they would halt their funding, prompting Mr Lazzarini to say it was "shocking to see a suspension of funds to the agency in reaction to allegations against a small group of staff".
Top EU diplomat Josep Borrell praised the agency for "playing a vital role over many years supporting vulnerable Palestinian refugees".
But he said the bloc expected "full transparency on the allegations" as well as "immediate measures against staff involved".
The Palestinian Authority, based in the occupied West Bank, urged donors to reverse their suspension, calling for "maximum support for this international organisation and not stopping support and assistance to it".
Johann Soufi, a lawyer and former director of UNRWA's legal office in Gaza, told AFP the agency had "always had a zero-tolerance policy for violence and incitement to hatred".
"Sanctioning UNRWA, which is barely keeping the entire population of Gaza alive, for the alleged responsibility of a few employees, is tantamount to collectively punishing the Gazan population, which is living in catastrophic humanitarian conditions," he said.
The accusations against UNRWA staff came hours after the UN's top court ordered Israel to do everything it can to prevent any acts of genocide in Gaza.
The International Court of Justice handed down its first judgement in a landmark case brought by South Africa.
Mr Soufi said the timing of the allegations against UNRWA "raises questions".
Truce talks
Talks on a possible temporary pause in fighting to release hostages and Palestinians held in Israel and allow more aid in Gaza are gathering pace.
US President Joe Biden discussed the issue yesterday in a phone call with the emir of mediator Qatar and the White House said Washington was hopeful about progress.
A source with knowledge of the matter told Reuters that US Central Intelligence Agency Director William Burns and his Israeli counterpart are expected to meet Qatar's prime minister and Egypt's spy chief in Europe tomorrow for talks on a second potential Gaza hostage deal.
The US and Israeli intelligence chiefs met previously with Qatari and Egyptian officials to help broker a short-lived truce in November that saw more than 100 hostages freed. The Biden administration has been trying to facilitate the release of the more than 100 remaining hostages.
Separately, Hezbollah announced that four of its fighters were killed in an Israeli strike on southern Lebanon late last night. The group has been exchanging fire with Israeli since it launched rockets across Lebanon's southern border on 8 October in support of its ally Hamas.
