UNRWA chief visits Gulf countries in bid to plug funding gap
GENEVA/MADRID (Reuters) – The head of the main UN Palestinian relief agency, UNRWA, is visiting three Gulf states this week to drum up support after donors suspended funding following Israeli allegations that some of the agency’s staff were involved in the October 7 attack.
Some 15 of its most important donors, including the United States, have suspended funding after Israel alleged 12 of the agency’s 13,000 staff were involved in the massacre.
The United Nations Relief and Works Agency warned last week that it might be forced to shut down its operations by the end of February if funding does not resume.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has previously said nine of those implicated had been fired, one was dead, and the identities of the other two were being clarified.
Guterres announced on Monday that an independent review of UNRWA’s ability to ensure neutrality and respond to allegations of conduct breaches would be led by former French foreign minister Catherine Colonna. It decided to launch the investigation in light of allegations about its organization’s neutrality in Gaza and alleged ties to Hamas in general, but not specifically regarding the potential involvement of 12 staff members.
Colonna will work with the Raoul Wallenberg Institute in Sweden, the Chr. Michelsen Institute in Norway, and the Danish Institute for Human Rights. She will submit an interim report by late March and a final report by late April, which will be made public.
Guterres said the independent external review would take place alongside an investigation currently under way by the UN Office of Internal Oversight
Services.
The decision to hold the external review was taken before allegations of UNRWA staff involvement on October 7, but with an eye to general accusations made against the organization.
“The cooperation of the Israeli authorities, who made these allegations, will be critical to the success of the investigation,” Guterres said.
UNRWA Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini said on X he met with United Arab Emirates Foreign Minister Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan on Monday to discuss
UNRWA’s work in “preserving the stability in the region” and delivering aid to two million people in Gaza.
Lazzarini will visit Qatar and Kuwait this week, spokeswoman Juliette Touma told Reuters.
“We are hoping those that paused [funding] will reconsider, and others will step forward as well,” she said.
Kuwait and Qatar rank 19th and 20th in UNRWA’s list of top 20 donors, giving $12 million and $10.5m., respectively, in 2022. The UAE was not listed.
Spain said on Monday it would send UNRWA an additional €3.5m. ($3.8m.) in aid,
Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Albares said.
“UNRWA’s situation is desperate, and there is a serious risk that its humanitarian activities will be paralyzed in Gaza within a few weeks,” he told lawmakers.
Madrid contributed €18.5m. directly to UNRWA in 2023, including €10m. approved in December following the decision to triple development and humanitarian aid to the Palestinian territories.
On Friday, neighboring Portugal announced additional aid to UNRWA worth €1m. It was essential “not to turn our backs on the Palestinian population at this difficult time,” Foreign Minister Joao Cravinho wrote on social-media platform X.
Set up in 1949, UNRWA provides education, health, and aid services to millions of Palestinians across Gaza, the West Bank, Jordan, Syria, and Lebanon. In Gaza, it is providing shelter for some one million people displaced during the war.
While some private donors and countries such as Spain have stepped up to offer additional help, Touma said it was not nearly enough to offset the estimated gap of $440m.