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UNRWA, the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, is at risk of closure due to Israel's insistence after pointing out connections of 12 of its employees in the Hamas attack on October 7. UNRWA's main donors suspended funding following the allegations and the agency warns it could cease operations in February. In this edition of El Debate we analyze the possible consequences for the 5.9 million Palestinian refugees served by this organization.
The UN Agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA, faces a scandal that has it against the wall, since a large part of its sources of resources were frozen. On January 26, just after the International Court of Justice issued six provisional measures for Israel in order to prevent a genocide in Gaza, different media reported that Israeli military intelligence had a six-page dossier against members of the UNRWA.
The report said that at least 12 employees had connections to the Oct. 7 Hamas attack on Israel, and that two of those workers helped kidnap Israelis. The document added that 190 of the more than 30,000 employees of the UN agency are militants, and 10% have links to Islamist militant groups. UNRWA responded by terminating the contracts of the 12 mentioned employees, began an investigation to establish whether it was true or not, and reiterated that it condemns the attacks against Israel. But its response was not enough for a dozen donor countries to suspend the money they give to the agency.
Read alsoUNRWA: a lifeline for Palestinians in the Middle East since 1949 and crucial in Gaza
UNRWA's main donor is the United States. That country provides almost a third of the entire budget that the UN Agency for Palestinian Refugees had in 2022. The European Union as a bloc is the third largest donor, although there are countries in the group that also donate individually to UNRWA and are in the top 10 of financiers, such as Germany, Sweden and France.
After the accusations against UNRWA, seven of the 10 countries that donate the most suspended sending money. Of these, only Norway, Saudi Arabia and Türkiye continue to disburse resources. Can UNRWA and the aid it provides to 5.9 million Palestinian refugees continue to stand, or will Israel's accusations bring down the agency? We analyze it with our guests:
– Antonio Aguilar, director of the Spanish Institute of Geopolitics.
– Salvador Herencia-Carrasco, professor at the Faculty of Law at the University of Ottawa, in Canada.
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