UN Secretary-General António Guterres announced this Monday (5) the appointment of an independent group to evaluate the work of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA), after Israel accused some of the its members from participating in the October 7 Hamas attacks.
The group, which will be led by former French Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna, will have to deliver a preliminary report to the United Nations leader next March, in addition to a final report in April. The latter will be made public.
Specifically, investigators must identify UNRWA's mechanisms to “ensure neutrality and respond to allegations or information that indicate that this principle has been violated,” the UN said in a statement.
They should also make recommendations to improve and strengthen these mechanisms, if necessary, or even establish new procedures.
Israel's accusations motivated 18 countries – including the United States, Japan, Germany and France – to announce the suspension of their contributions to the agency, which warned that it will run out of funds before the end of the month.
The assessment announced this Monday by the Secretary-General will take place in parallel with the UN Department of Home Affairs investigation into the 12 UNRWA members accused of participating in the October 7 attacks, which according to Guterres could produce results in a period of two to three weeks.
“The cooperation of the Israeli authorities, who made these allegations, will be fundamental to the success of the investigation,” said the secretary-general in the statement.
A dossier prepared by Israel and shared with the United States denounces that 12 employees of the UN agency that operates within the Gaza Strip, UNRWA, participated directly in attacks against Israeli civilians.
The accusations point out that workers from the humanitarian aid organization in the Palestinian enclave had helped Hamas in kidnapping hostages, creating an operations room and distributing ammunition for terrorists to carry out the massacre and continue the war from neighboring territory. .
In addition, a group was discovered on the Telegram messaging app that had the participation of 3,000 people, most of them UNRWA employees and teachers. In the virtual environment, some members of the agency who participated in the group celebrated and endorsed the massacre that occurred on October 7, 2023, when Hamas terrorists invaded Israeli territory and killed 1,200 people, as well as kidnapping another 250.
Titled “UNRWA's Terrorgram,” the UN Watch report, which exposed the group, reveals that agency officials were praying for the “success” and “protection” of Palestinian terrorists while sharing photos and videos of the attacks in the group.
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