The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees (UNRWA) has accused the Israeli army of a naval strike on a food aid convoy preparing to enter northern Gaza, where it is at war with Hamas on Monday, February 5. “Fortunately, no one was injured,” added Thomas White, the head of the agency in the Palestinian territory, on X. The Israeli army entirely controls the maritime space bordering the Gaza Strip in the Mediterranean.
Since the Jewish state accused employees of the UN agency – since fired – of being involved in the Hamas attack of October 7, 2023, relations between Israel and UNRWA have been very deteriorated. A dozen countries, including major donors such as the United States, Germany, the United Kingdom and Sweden, announced they were suspending their funding to the agency, which said it was threatened with having to cease its activities. by the end of February.”
The European Union has called for an audit of the functioning of UNRWA, specifying that it would decide on the suspension of its funding based on the results of the investigation opened by the United Nations (UN). Josep Borrell, the head of European diplomacy, said he was “convinced that it will be completed by the launch of an independent external investigation before the next payment from the European Commission is due at the end of the month”. Currently, the suspended funds amount to “more than $440 million, almost half of the agency’s expected revenues in 2024, putting its very existence in jeopardy,” Borrell said.
On the Israeli side, the accusation is strong. “UNRWA is totally infiltrated by Hamas,” and “we need other United Nations agencies and other humanitarian organizations” in its place, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told ambassadors in Jerusalem , Wednesday, January 31.