Israel ‘yet to provide evidence’ of UNRWA staff terrorist links, independent report says

Israel has yet to present evidence backing its allegations that employees of U.N. relief agency UNRWA are affiliated with terrorist organizations, said an independent review published Monday.

After Israel claimed in January that UNRWA staff were involved in the Oct. 7 attacks, several European countries cut funding to the agency, which is the main provider of aid to Palestinians. Since then, the humanitarian situation in Gaza has deteriorated significantly.

“Israel made public claims that a significant number of UNRWA employees are members of terrorist organizations,” the report said, adding that “Israel has yet to provide supporting evidence of this.”

The report, commissioned by the U.N. and led by former French Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna, revealed that UNRWA regularly shared lists of its employees with Israel for vetting purposes. It also noted that since 2011, the Israeli government has not raised any concerns about UNRWA staff based on these lists.

“All UNRWA beneficiaries, contractors, vendors, non-State donors, or any other individual or organization affiliated with UNRWA are screened bi-annually by the agency using the UN sanctions list,” the report said.

UNRWA has established “a significant number of policies, mechanisms and procedures” to both ensure neutrality and “rapid and adequate responses to allegations,” said the report.

After Israel raised allegations in January that the organization’s staff had been involved in Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack, UNRWA immediately identified 12 workers implicated and terminated the contracts of ten of them, while another two were confirmed dead.

In February, Israeli officials also claimed to have discovered a tunnel network hundreds of meters long and running partly under UNRWA’s Gaza headquarters, calling it evidence for Hamas’ connection to the relief agency.

Following the release of the report, Israel’s Foreign Ministry said, without providing evidence, that Hamas’s penetration of the UN agency runs so deep that “it is impossible to say where UNRWA ends and Hamas begins,” calling it a “poisoned tree whose roots are Hamas.”

Impact of funding cuts

Following Israel’s January allegation, several major UNRWA donors cut their funding to the agency, which is the main provider of humanitarian aid to Palestinians. Many have recently resumed their support.

All in all, 16 state donors suspended or paused funding, and others added conditions to their support, the report said. This led to of $450 million being denied to Gaza.

“UNRWA’s current financial and operational constraints resulted in its operations in Gaza being severely curtailed, unable to provide sufficient humanitarian assistance to people in need,” the report said.

In February, the EU’s top diplomat Josep Borrell argued that defunding the UNRWA would be “disproportionate and dangerous.” | EPA-EFE/Wael Hamzeh

Germany, Switzerland and the Netherlands were the largest EU donors which paused funding based on Israeli allegations. The United States, Canada and Australia also cut funding.

The report could influence the funding decisions of countries which have yet to resume support, such as the U.K. A Foreign Office official said Monday the report would form “part of the decision-making process” as to whether Britain will resume funding for UNRWA.

In February, the EU’s top diplomat Josep Borrell argued that defunding the UNRWA would be “disproportionate and dangerous,” adding: “The wrongdoing of individuals should never lead to the collective punishment of an entire population.”

In March, the EU’s humanitarian chief Janez Lenarčič already announced that the EU had not seen evidence from Israel to back its accusations against staff from the U.N. Palestinian refugee agency.

U.S. Senator Chris Van Hollen went a step further in calling the allegations a “flat-out lie” that that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was using in an attempt to demonize and “get rid of” the agency.

Israel has also used the evidence-free allegations to call for the resignation of the head of the U.N.

Israel’s military campaign in Gaza has claimed the lives of more than 34,000 people, according to local health authorities.

The Israeli Foreign Press Department didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.