The allegations against staffers with the U.N. agency for Palestinian refugees prompted Western countries to freeze funds vital for the body, which is a lifeline for desperate Palestinians in Gaza. The U.N. fired nine of the 12 accused workers and condemned “the abhorrent alleged acts” of staff members.
The accusations come after years of tensions between Israel and the agency known as UNRWA over its work in Gaza, where it employs roughly 13,000 people.
Despite the humanitarian catastrophe unfolding in the besieged territory — where Israel’s war against Hamas has displaced the vast majority of the population and officials say a quarter of Palestinians are starving — major donors, including the U.S. and Britain, have cut funding. On Monday, Japan and Austria joined them in pausing assistance.
The document said intelligence gathered showed that at least 190 UNRWA workers were Hamas or Islamic Jihad operatives, without providing evidence.
It wouldn’t shock me at all that we find out later that Israel was bs’ing about this and Palestinians starved to death because of it.
So far UNRWA’s track record is on Israel’s side, and for the UNRWA to immediately fire 9 of those accused of collaborating with Hamas means the evidence that was presented to them was exceptionally compelling:
Today, in the course of the regular inspection of its premises, UNRWA discovered rockets hidden in a vacant school in the Gaza Strip.
The agency protested strongly to the relevant authorities in Gaza to express outrage and condemnation of the presence of such a structure underneath one of its installations,
To their merit though, whenever they fucked up they admitted it.
It’s crazy to me that these countries cut funding, even after they fired those people. UNRWA is providing much needed help, from what I’ve heard of the reporting so far, and this disrupts those efforts a lot.
even after they fired those people
An independent investigation is still ongoing as there are 190 accused, not just 9. Those 9 employees are only those against whom the evidence was compelling enough to prompt an immediate firing by the UNRWA.
190 is ~0.006% of the UNRWA’s 30k staff. Withholding aid from 1.5 million refugees over this is fucking criminal.
Evidently they count people as refugees even if they resettle elsewhere and get citizenship from another country, and all their descendants as well. If your father was a refugee so are you. Which leads to an interesting situation of people who were never personally displaced claiming refugee status for generations.
So you think a people should just relinquish their claim on their homeland if they haven’t been personally displaced?
How far back is it convenient to go?
Yes.
Break the cycle.
I think they shouldn’t qualify as refugees if they haven’t been personally displaced, and I hope one day they realize that lives are more important than claims to land their ancestors lived on. The alternative, violence, is what led to them losing this land in the first place, and is why they continue to lose land and freedoms. Choosing violence has consequences.
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I believe that refers to the 190 workers figure, not the 12 verified participants in October 7th.
Yes. That was in the portion I quoted.
So if the affiliation of the 12 isn’t in question, israel can’t be totally lying about this connection.
I just learned that the UNRWA has 30,000 employees; most of which are Palestinian refugees.
It’s practically unavoidable to employ 0.5% of all Palestinians and not have some be involved in the largest attack in decades, but cutting aid to an org of 30k, that supports 1.5 million refugees, because of the actions of ~0.006% of the staff is completely ruthless and criminal.
From the article:
The accusations come after years of tensions between Israel and the agency known as UNRWA over its work in Gaza, where it employs roughly 13,000 people.
Looks like you have some bad info.
13,000 in Gaza, 30,000 overall (including West Bank). Funding is being cut to the organization entirely.
The Israeli document, which has been shared with U.S. officials and was obtained by The Associated Press, lists 12 people, their alleged roles in the attack, job descriptions and photos. The findings detailed in the document could not be independently confirmed.
The document said intelligence gathered showed that at least 190 UNRWA workers were Hamas or Islamic Jihad operatives, without providing evidence.
It said of the 12 workers, nine were teachers and one a social worker. Seven of the employees were accused of crossing into Israel on Oct. 7. Of those, one was accused of taking part in a kidnapping, another of helping to take away a dead soldier and three others of participating in the attacks.
Ten were listed as having ties to Hamas and one to the Islamic Jihad militant group. Two of the 12 have been killed, according to the document. The U.N. previously said one was still being identified.
So no verified evidence and this somehow justifies the collective punishment of denying aid of a population literally starving of food, water, and basic medicine entirely because of their occupier wants it so. This is unacceptable
Yeah this sounds a lot like Israel just saying “We are committing a genocide? No way. The people showing you proof of us doing that are actually terrorists, see??? Just trust me bro, they started it.”
So I guess they will start bombing UN countries, instead of innocent Palestinians… Any minute now…
This is the best summary I could come up with:
The order indicated that battles are still being waged in northern Gaza, an area Israel pummeled in the first weeks of the war and where it had previously said it held military control.
The attack set off an intense air, sea and ground offensive that has killed more than 26,000 Palestinians, most of them women and minors, according to the Health Ministry in Hamas-ruled Gaza.
The war has also threatened to set off a wider regional conflict, with the U.S. announcing three of its troops killed in a strike blamed on Iran-backed militias in Jordan.
The Israeli document, which has been shared with U.S. officials and was obtained by The Associated Press, lists 12 people, their alleged roles in the attack, job descriptions and photos.
Since the war began, most of the territory’s 2.3 million people depend on the agency’s programs for “sheer survival,” including food and shelter, Lazzarini said.
A quarter of Gaza’s population is facing starvation as fighting and Israeli restrictions hinder the delivery of aid, which has been well below the daily average of 500 trucks before the war.
The original article contains 919 words, the summary contains 182 words. Saved 80%. I’m a bot and I’m open source!
