Israel has accused a dozen United Nations employees in Gaza of participating in Hamas’ Oct. 7 massacre of 1,200 people in Israel, prompting the world body to fire the alleged perpetrators and open an investigation that threatens to tarnish the U.N.’s reputation and jeopardize tens of millions of dollars in United States funding for relief programs in Gaza.
The revelations surrounding the U.N. Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees, or UNRWA, are likely to bolster the position of conservative critics of the U.N. in Israel and in the U.S. Congress. They are also likely to complicate efforts by the Biden administration to secure some $10 billion for broader global humanitarian operations in negotiations underway for a supplemental budget that has stalled over a border funding dispute.
The U.S. is “extremely troubled by the allegations,” said U.S. State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller in a statement. On Friday, the State Department announced it has “temporarily paused” additional funding for UNRWA, which employed the alleged perpetrators — cutting off the agency’s single largest source of funding in the midst of a humanitarian crisis.
“This is something that the Biden administration would really rather not do,” David Schenker, the Taube senior fellow at The Washington Institute and an expert on Arab politics, told Devex. “They wouldn’t have done this unless they already had some sort of compelling evidence presented … and the question will be whether other donors in the West follow suit.”
After the Trump administration slashed support for UNRWA, U.S. President Joe Biden pushed for its resumption once he took office — and in 2022, the U.S. government gave $344 million to the 30,000-person organization. Today, UNRWA is one of the largest employers in Gaza, Schenker said, employing some 13,000 Palestinian teachers, doctors, engineers, and others in the coastal strip.
The Israeli offensive in Gaza has resulted in the deaths of at least 27,500, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry. That includes 152 employees from UNRWA — the largest loss of life in a U.N. operation since the world body’s founding after World War II. Today, UNRWA is on the front lines of the international relief effort, providing shelter to 1.9 million displaced Palestinians in more than 150 shelters. According to the agency, nearly 360 people sheltering in UNRWA facilities have been killed since the Israeli offensive began.
On Wednesday, the latest strike on a shelter — a compound housing 800 displaced people in southwest Gaza — killed 13 people and critically injured 21, the agency reported.
“UNRWA shares the location of all its facilities including shelters directly with Israeli authorities,” the agency said in its latest situation report. “UNRWA received assurances that people inside them would be safe.”
