ISRAEL ‘GAVE NO EVIDENCE’ OF UNRWA STAFF MILITANT LINKS
▶ Independent review finds that Palestinian aid agency had ‘robust’ approach to neutrality
Israel “has yet to provide any evidence” to back its claims that staff at the UN agency for Palestinian refugees were linked to terrorist organisations, an independent report found yesterday.
The review of the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) – led by former French foreign minister Catherine Colonna – was commissioned after Israel said 12 UNRWA employees took part in Hamas-led attacks on Israeli settlements on October 7.
Then in March, Israel claimed more than 450 UNRWA staff were in Gaza “terrorist” groups.
“However, Israel has yet to provide supporting evidence of this,” the report said.
It found that the agency has a “robust” approach to neutrality, but added that some “neutrality-related” issues persist.
UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres said he accepted recommendations in the report about addressing these.
Israel’s allegations led several countries to suspend their funding to the UNRWA, which is the main provider of services to Gaza’s 2.3 million people. The UK is poised to become the latest country to resume funding, Whitehall sources said.
Yesterday, Israel’s military intelligence chief Maj Gen Aharon Haliva became the first senior Israeli figure to resign over the security failures that led to the October 7 attacks by Hamas. He said the intelligence division “did not live up to the task we were entrusted with” and that “I will carry the pain with me forever”.
Hamas-led militants killed about 1,200 people in their attack and abducted 240. Israel’s onslaught on Gaza has killed more than 34,100 people.
The head of Israel’s military intelligence tendered his resignation yesterday in connection with security failures that enabled Hamas to launch its October 7 attacks on southern Israel.
Maj Gen Aharon Haliva is the first senior Israeli figure to step down since the assault, during which militants killed 1,200 people and took 240 hostages.
“The head of the intelligence division, Maj Gen Aharon Haliva, in co-ordination with the Chief of Staff, requested to end his position following his command responsibility as head of the National Security Agency in the events of October 7,” the Israeli military announced in a social media post yesterday.
In his letter of resignation, Maj Gen Haliva said his division “did not live up to the task we were entrusted with”.
“I carry that black day with me ever since, day after day, night after night. I will carry the pain with me forever,” he wrote.
Maj Gen Haliva will remain in his post until a replacement is appointed, and vowed to “do everything to defeat Hamas” until then.
Observers at a border post that was struck on October 7 had reported “unusual movements” and training activities for more than a year before the attacks, reported in November.
The October 7 attacks were the catalyst for a devastating Israeli military campaign in Gaza, during which more than 34,100 people have been killed so far, the enclave’s Hamas-run Health Ministry says.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Sunday that the country would intensify its military operations to force Hamas to release the estimated 130 hostages still held in Gaza.
“In the coming days, we will increase the military and political pressure on Hamas, because this is the only way to free our hostages,” he said, before threatening to “deliver additional and painful blows” to the militant group.
Also on Sunday, Israeli military spokesman Admiral Daniel Hagari said that “the chief of staff has approved the next steps for the war”.
“On Passover, it will be 200 days of captivity for the hostages … we will fight until you return home to us,” he said.
Israel has withdrawn all but one battalion from Gaza while continuing air strikes and shelling in the territory.
Most recently, at least 24 people were killed on Sunday by air strikes in Rafah, Gaza’s southernmost city, where more than a million displaced people have sought refuge from elsewhere in the enclave.
Israel has repeatedly announced its intention to launch an incursion into Rafah, which it has called a Hamas stronghold. The country’s western allies, including the US, have voiced concerns that such an operation would pose a significant risk to civilians in the overcrowded city.
The World Food Programme yesterday announced the delivery of fuel and flour to four bakeries in northern Gaza.
The bakeries “can begin production again after 170 days of being inoperable”, the WFP said in a post on social media.
Northern Gaza has been hit particularly hard by food shortages throughout the war, with the UN having repeatedly warned that the region was on the brink of famine amid reports of deaths resulting from malnutrition.
Israel had imposed strict controls over the entry of humanitarian aid through two land crossings in the enclave’s south. This prompted several countries in the region, along with the US and European nations, to carry out aid drops under an initiative led by Jordan.
The crisis has eased in recent weeks after Israel, under pressure from its allies, increased aid deliveries across Gaza’s southern border and opened land crossings to the north.