UNRWA an issue of ‘absolute urgency’ for US government
▶ A draft deal envisages a truce of three months during which Hamas would release all 132 hostages in batches
A senior US official has called for an investigation into the UN agency for Palestinian refugees to be carried out urgently, after the agency warned it could stop operations due to a freeze in funding by western nations.
“It’s an issue of absolute urgency for the US government,” said Barbara Leaf, US assistant secretary of state for Near Eastern affairs. The US is the biggest donor to the UNRWA. It suspended its funding after Israel accused some agency staff of taking part in the October 7 attack by Hamas.
The UNRWA has said it is investigating the allegations.
But the aid agency said it would probably have to shut down its operations in the Middle East by the end of the month if funding is not resumed.
On Thursday, Ms Leaf acknowledged the important role that the UNRWA plays in Gaza but said the allegations against its staff members were deeply troubling.
“There’s an urgency for several things. One is to get to the bottom of these extraordinarily serious and really terrible allegations that members of a mission that is dedicated to humanitarian support for the Palestinian people, be they in Gaza, West Bank, Syria Lebanon, Jordan, that members of that organisation would be involved in the horrendous attacks of October 7 is really just terrible,” Ms Leaf said.
The Biden administration’s decision to suspend funding for the UNRWA has galvanised Republicans in Congress, some of whom have long opposed US support for the aid agency.
Brian Mast, the Republican Congressman leading the charge to permanently “abolish” the agency, said he has been sending “letter after letter” to UNRWA commissioner general Philippe Lazzarini requesting that “he testify before the foreign affairs committee that has oversight over the largest amount of support that they receive from anywhere around the globe.”
Mr Mast, along with other House Republicans this week introduced a bill which if passed would ban any “voluntary or involuntary” US contributions to the agency.
The US and Britain are intensifying on their diplomatic efforts to find a lasting resolution to the Israel-Gaza war as Hamas and Israel considers proposals to reach a prolonged truce to the war in Gaza.
Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh was expected to arrive on Thursday in Egypt, where other senior Hamas officials are set to join him to discuss truce plans with Egyptian mediators.
The proposals were drafted by Egyptian, American, Israeli and Qatari mediators during meetings in Paris this week.
They envisage a ceasefire of up to three months, during which Hamas would release all 132 hostages, held since October, in batches. In turn, Israel would free Palestinians detained in its prisons.
The proposals also provide entry of substantial humanitarian aid to alleviate the suffering of Gaza’s 2.3 million residents.
Egyptian sources said Hamas remained adamant that any deal must include a full Israeli withdrawal from Gaza and international guarantees that the enclave would not be attacked again.
Israel has yet to give a public response to the proposals but has already said the war will not end until Hamas’s military and government have been dismantled.
It has also insisted on retaining a security role over Gaza to ensure there can never be a repeat of the October 7 attack that killed about 1,200 people. It was Israel’s deadliest day since it was created in 1948.
“The main points of contention now are the identity and number of Palestinian detainees to be released from Israeli prisons as well as Hamas’s demand for guarantees that the war will end,” a source based in Gaza and known to be close to the Palestinian Authority in Ramallah told The National.
Egyptian sources claimed Hamas was concerned Israel would resume its military campaign in Gaza once all the hostages had been released.
Hamas is also insisting Palestinians released from Israeli prisons under the deal include high-profile political figures who are serving long jail terms or life sentences. However, a Palestinian official said that Hamas was unlikely to reject the proposals but would not sign off on them without assurances that Israel was committed to ending the war.
“I expect that Hamas will not reject the paper but it might not give a decisive agreement either,” said the Palestinian official.
“Instead, I expect them to send a positive response and reaffirm their demands: for the agreement to be signed, it must ensure Israel will commit to ending the war in Gaza and pull out from the enclave completely.”
The US has said that the creation of any such state would need to come with ‘real security guarantees for Israel’
The wait for a public and final response by Hamas and Israel to the proposals coincides with a potentially seismic shift in the position of the US on the Palestinian-Israeli conflict.
US State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said the creation of a Palestinian state would come with “real security guarantees for Israel, because we do believe that is the best way to bring about lasting peace and security for Israel, for Palestinians and for the region”.
“There are any number of ways that you could go about accomplishing that,” he said.
“There are a number of sequencing of events that you can carry out to accomplish that objective. We look at a wide range of options and we discuss those with partners in the region as well as other partners inside the United States government.”
Washington has faced domestic and international criticism for its steadfast support of Israel, whose forces have killed more than 27,000 Palestinians in Gaza since the war began, according to the Hamas-run Health Ministry.
US diplomats have conducted several tours of the Middle East after the war began but have failed to secure a lasting ceasefire agreement. Secretary of State Antony Blinken asked the State Department to conduct a review and present policy options on possible US and international recognition of a Palestinian state after the war, according to a report by Axios published on Wednesday.
The UK, which has also offered Israel strong support since the war began, said it would look into recognising an independent Palestinian state.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has rejected the creation of a Palestinian state. Hamas has dismissed suggestions that such a state would be demilitarised.
More than 60 US citizens and their family members who were killed, injured or taken hostage in the Hamas attacks on October 7 are suing Iran, demanding up to $1 billion from Tehran for aiding the group.
The lawsuit was filed on Wednesday night in a federal court in Washington.
It details Iran’s history of backing Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad – another Gaza-based militant group involved in the October 7 attack – including providing millions of dollars each year, along with rockets and other weapons.
In the lead-up to October 7, this resulted in regular meetings between the Iranian military, Hamas, PIJ and the Lebanese group Hezbollah, during which Tehran gave the “green light” to attack Israel, according to the complaint quoted by Bloomberg.