What does restored funding mean for UNRWA's future?
Saša Petricic
Two possible futures have been presented for the United Nations' main agency for Palestinian refugees, though both its supporters and detractors seem to agree that the biggest aid organization in Gaza is "at risk of death."
That was the dire assess‐ ment of Philippe Lazzarini, the head of the UN Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) after 16 donor countries sus‐ pended their funding amid accusations by Israel that some of its employees had been involed in the Oct. 7 at‐ tack orchestrated by the mili‐ tant group Hamas.
But after Canada and Sweden both announced they were resuming contribu‐ tions to UNRWA, Lazzarini said he was "cautiously opti‐ mistic" others would also soon reconsider - allowing the agency to continue its work.
UNRWA has been running schools and shelters for Palestinians in Gaza since 1949, and during the current conflict, its role has broad‐ ened to supply whatever aid it can deliver.
But Israel's Foreign Min‐ istry called Ottawa and Stock‐ holm's decisions a "serious mistake," and its military told local media it will nonethe‐ less work to "dismantle" the UN agency and replace it with an unnamed alternative.
What are Israel's accusa‐ tions?
In late January, Israel pre‐ sented an intelligence dossi‐ er to the UN and distributed it to UNRWA's major donor countries, alleging that 12 of the agency's 13,000 employ‐ ees in Gaza participated in the October attack on Israel, which killed 1,200 people and saw some 250 Israelis taken captive. Seven of the UNRWA staff actually stormed across the border, the document said. Israel said many more are "hardened" militants.
The workers were named and the file, which was not made public, included their photos. One video which was released, showed a man who Israel says is employed as a teacher, removing the body of an Israeli soldier from a border community. Another is accused of participating in a kidnapping.
Last week, Israeli army spokesman Daneil Hagari ramped up the charge, say‐ ing "over 450 UNRWA em‐ ployees are military opera‐ tives in terror groups," in‐ cluding Hamas and other armed organizations, though he presented no evidence.
UNRWA's Lazzarini says he has previously "never re‐ ceived the slightest concern" from Israel about its staff.
Some UNRWA workers who were detained by Israel and released back into Gaza said they were "subject to threats and coercion by the Israeli authorities while in de‐ tention," pressured to falsely state the agency has Hamas links and that staff partici‐ pated in the attack on Israel, according to an internal UNR‐ WA report seen by the Reuters news agency. Israel would not address the specif‐ ic accusations, but said it al‐ ways acts according to Israeli and international law.
In response to Israel's original accusations, the UN fired the dozen identified workers and opened two in‐ vestigations. One is run by the agency's Office of Inter‐ nal Oversight, looking at al‐ leged employee involvement in Oct. 7. The other is assess‐ ing "how UNRWA works with neutrality" said former
French foreign minister Catherine Colonna, who is heading it.
Israeli Prime Minister Ben‐ jamin Netanyahu has long denounced UNRWA as being too supportive of the Hamas leadership in Gaza and of turning a blind eye to fighters who Israel says dig tunnels under the agency's buildings and use UNWRA facilities, in‐ cluding schools and hospi‐ tals, to hide and store weapons. UNRWA has denied it knew about or endorsed these Hamas activities.
WATCH | Gazans needs UNRWA's help, minister says:
How has the interna‐ tional community respon‐ ded?
After the initial allega‐ tions, more than $600 million in support dried up and UNR‐ WA's future was put in doubt. All the countries said they would reassess once the UN's investigations were complete.
"The secretary general is horrified by this news," said Stéphane Dujarric, spokesman for UN chief An‐ tonio Guterres. He vowed to act immediately, based on any solid new information provided by Israel.
Washington said it was al‐ so "extremely troubled" and Secretary of State Antony
Blinken said he found the Is‐ raeli brief "highly, highly cred‐ ible."
But the U.S. intelligence community didn't endorse it as strongly, labelling it "lowconfidence" - meaning Is‐ rael's allegations are plausi‐ ble but arrived with no real evidence - in an assessment shared with The Wall Street Journal.
At the time, Canada's Min‐ ister of International Devel‐ opment, Ahmed Hussen, said he was "deeply troubled" by the charges, but also "deeply concerned" about the hu‐ manitarian crisis unfolding in Gaza.
That was the reason Nor‐ way gave for not cutting its funding to UNRWA, saying "the situation is desperate," and the reason Spain gave for new contributions last week.
It's also why Canada and Sweden unfroze theirs, though Ottawa still hasn't an‐ nounced when money will start flowing again.
WATCH | Bob Rae ex‐ plains Canada's restored funding:
What happens next?
The two UN reports are ex‐ pected in April.
They may provide the ra‐ tionale some countries need to reinstate aid for UNRWA, though Norway says it expec‐ ts more to join Canada and Sweden and announce a Uturn sooner.
With many of Gaza's 2.2 million Palestinians just a step away from starvation, and widespread famine "al‐ most inevitable," according to UN officials, UNRWA's presence on the ground is desperately needed.
Even if aid does start flow‐ ing - if Israel succumbs to
U.S. pressure and lets in more trucks than it has so far, if a new U.S.-built port opens a major gateway - dis‐ tributing it across Gaza's dev‐ astated landscape will be a huge challenge.
Guterres calls the agency "the backbone of all humani‐ tarian response in Gaza" be‐ cause of its infrastructure.
But Israel is showing no sign of cooperating with UN‐ RWA, no matter how much support it gets internationally or how stable its funding be‐ comes.
Netanyahu's plan for a post-war Gaza specifically ex‐ cludes UNRWA, and Israel Defence Force officials are al‐ ready trying to find other agencies and NGOs to re‐ place it, with no clear alterna‐ tive, Israeli media reports.