to report «iusnews»; UNRWA’s Commissioner General Philippe Lazzarini told the Financial Times that Israel has yet to provide evidence of its claims that around a dozen UNRWA staff were involved in the October 7 attacks.
Lazzarini said on Saturday, although he was taking the allegations levelled at the organisation seriously he could not comment on the progress of the UN’s Office of Internal Oversight Services investigation.
The FT stated that they had seen the intelligence assessment which provided no evidence for the claims which include an accusation that a staff member kidnapped a woman.
The claims have led 15 donor countries to withdraw their funding to the UNRWA, a move that Lazzarini said could lead to the UNRWA being forced to end lifesaving assistance and operations in the Gaza Strip by the end of February.
On Monday, The World Health Organization (WHO) urged countries to continue funding UNRWA, calling Israeli allegations against the UNRWA a “distraction” from the war in Gaza.
Israel unleashed a bombardment campaign against Gaza on October 7, 2023, after the Palestinian resistance groups launched Operation Al-Aqsa Storm in response to decades of violence against Palestinians.
Since the start of the aggression, Israel has killed more than 27,360 Palestinians, mostly women and children.
