New York [USA], April 23: An independent review of the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) released on Monday said that Israel provided no evidence to support claims that UNRWA workers participate in terrorist organizations.
Israel has accused some UNRWA employees of being involved in the October 7 attack by the Palestinian organization Hamas. UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres appointed an Independent Review Group to investigate allegations of breaches of neutrality by UNRWA.
"The Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs informed that until March 2024, they had received staff lists without Palestinian identification numbers. On the basis of the March 2024 list, which contained Palestinian ID numbers, Israel made public claims that a significant number of UNRWA employees are members of terrorist organizations. However, Israel has yet to provide supporting evidence of this," the report said.
The UN Secretary-General also activated a separate investigation by the United Nations' Office of Internal Oversight Services to determine the veracity of the allegations, the report said.
UNRWA has established a significant number of mechanisms and procedures to ensure compliance with humanitarian principles, with an emphasis on neutrality, the report said.
However, neutrality-related issues persist despite the framework, including public expressions of political views by staff, the report also said.
UNRWA, however, is pivotal in providing humanitarian aid and social services to Palestinian refugees and is "irreplaceable and indispensable" to the Palestinians' human and economic development.
Source: Qatar Tribune