Review of UN agency helping Palestinian refugees found Israel did not express concern about staff
UNITED NATIONS — An independent investigation into the neutrality of the UN agency that helps Palestinian refugees found that Israel has never raised concerns about anyone on the staff lists it has received annually since 2011. The investigation was carried out after Israel alleged that a dozen employees of the agency, known as UNRWA, took part in Hamas’ attacks on October 7.
In a sweeping 48-page report released Monday, the independent panel said UNRWA has “robust” procedures to uphold the U.N. principle of neutrality, but it also cited serious gaps in implementation, including staff who publicly engage in political expresses views, textbooks used in schools, employment agency runs with “problematic content” and employee associations disrupt business operations.
From 2017 to 2022, the report states that the annual number of allegations of breach of neutrality at UNRWA ranged from seven to 55. But between January 2022 and February 2024, UN investigators received 151 allegations, most of which related to social media posts ‘made public by external media’. sources,” the report said.
In a key section on staff neutrality, the panel, led by former French Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna, said UNRWA shares staff lists with host countries for its 32,000 staff, including about 13,000 in Gaza. But it said Israeli officials never raised concerns and told panel members that it does not view the list as “a screening or vetting process” but rather a procedure to register diplomats.
Israel’s Foreign Ministry informed the panel that personnel lists did not include Palestinian identification numbers until March 2024, the report said.
Apparently based on these figures, “Israel has publicly alleged that a significant number of UNRWA employees are members of terrorist organizations,” the panel said. “However, Israel has not yet provided supporting evidence for this.”
Israel’s accusations led to the suspension of contributions to UNRWA by the United States and more than a dozen other countries. That amounted to a pause in funding worth about $450 million, according to Monday’s report, but some countries have resumed contributions.
The Israeli Foreign Ministry on Monday called on donor countries not to send money to the organization.
“The Colonna report ignores the seriousness of the problem and offers cosmetic solutions that do not take into account the enormous scope of Hamas’s infiltration of UNRWA,” ministry spokesman Oren Marmorstein said. “This is not what a true and thorough review looks like. This is what an attempt to avoid the problem and not address it head-on looks like.”
Colonna, speaking at the United Nations when the report was released, said the panel had been well received by Israelis in conducting the review, and she urged the Israeli government not to disregard it. “Of course you will find that it is not enough, but please take it to heart. Whatever we recommend, if implemented, it will bring some good.”
The report emphasizes the crucial importance of UNRWA, calling it “irreplaceable and indispensable to the human and economic development of the Palestinians” in the absence of a political solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and “critical in providing life-saving humanitarian assistance and essential social services”. , especially in the areas of health and education, to Palestinian refugees in Gaza, Jordan, Lebanon, Syria and the West Bank.”
UN spokesperson Stephane Dujarric welcomed the commitment to UNRWA, saying the report “contains clear recommendations, which the Secretary General accepts.”
UNRWA Commissioner General Philippe Lazzarini said last week that he accepts all the recommendations. While Israel has called for the organization’s breakup, Lazzarini told the UN Security Council that dismantling UNRWA would deepen the humanitarian crisis in Gaza and accelerate the outbreak of famine.
International experts have warned of a looming famine in northern Gaza, saying half of the territory’s 2.3 million residents could be pushed to the brink of starvation if the war between Israel and Hamas intensifies.
In addition, UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres also ordered the UN’s internal watchdog, the Office of Internal Oversight Services, to conduct an investigation into Israeli allegations that twelve UNRWA staffers participated in the 7 attacks October. That report is eagerly awaited.
In its March 20 interim report, the panel noted UNRWA’s “significant number of mechanisms and procedures to ensure compliance with the humanitarian principles of neutrality,” but also identified “critical areas that need to be addressed.”