Britain, Germany, Italy, Switzerland, Finland and the Netherlands are the latest countries to suspend their aid contributions to the United Nation’s Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian refugees amid an ongoing scandal.
The US, Australia and Canada also suspended their funding.
It comes after UNWRA fired a dozen staffers in Gaza suspected of taking part in the 7 October attack by Hamas and other militants on southern Israel.
The UN agency has been the main organisation providing aid for Gaza’s population amid the humanitarian disaster caused by Israel’s offensive against Hamas.
UNRWA chief Philippe Lazzarini said it terminated contracts with “several” employees and ordered an investigation after Israel provided information alleging they played a role in the attack.
UNRWA has 13,000 staffers in Gaza, almost all of them Palestinians, ranging from teachers in schools that the agency runs to doctors, medical staff and aid workers.
In a statement, Lazzarini called the allegations “shocking” and said any employee “involved in acts of terror will be held accountable, including through criminal prosecution.”
He did not elaborate on what the staffers’ alleged role was in the attacks. In the unprecedented surprise attack, Hamas fighters broke through the security fence surrounding Gaza and stormed nearby Israeli communities, killing around 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and kidnapping some 250. Other militants joined the rampage.
“UNRWA reiterates its condemnation in the strongest possible terms of the abhorrent attacks of 7 October” and calls for the immediate and unconditional release of all Israeli hostages, Lazzarini said.
There has been some criticism of the move by international donors to suspend funding, including from former New Zealand PM, and former head of the UN Development Programme, Helen Clark.
Writing on X, formerly known as Twitter, Clark said that halting funds to UNWRA amounts to “collective punishment” of Gaza’s “besieged population.”
Since the start of the war, Israel’s assault has killed more than 26,000 Palestinians, most women and children, and wounded more than 64,400 others, according to Gaza’s Hamas-run Health Ministry.
The ministry does not differentiate between combatants and civilians in its death toll.
More than 150 UNWRA employees are among those killed – the highest toll the world body has suffered in a conflict – and a number of UN shelters have been hit by the Israeli bombardment.
