The European Union has called on international donors to resume its funding to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) after a review finding that Israel had not provided evidence for its claim that thousands of UNRWA staff were members of terror groups.
EU Humanitarian chief Janez Lenarcic welcomed this week's report for "underlining the agency's significant number of compliance systems in place as well as recommendations for their further upgrade."
He further called on donor nations to support UNRWA, describing it as the "Palestinian refugees' lifeline," the BBC reported.
So far, the message was echoed by Norway's Foreign Minister Espen Barth Eide, who hailed countries including Australia, Canada, Finland, Germany, Iceland, Japan, and Sweden for having already resumed their funding.
It was previously reported that several nations halted funding to the agency after allegations that some of its employees took part in Hamas's attack on Israel on Oct. 7.
So far, the United States has said it will not restart its UNRWA aid until the agency makes some "real progress." The UK, the Netherlands, Italy, Austria, and Lithuania have not yet done so.
"In terms of our funding of UNRWA, that is still suspended," White House national security spokesman John Kirby said on Tuesday (Apr. 23). "We're gonna have to see real progress here before that gets changed."
On the other hand, US State Department deputy spokesman Vedant Patel said that the Biden administration was looking closely at the recent report, adding that the US would "continue to support UNRWA's important work, and it must continue."
Israel has accused over 2,100 UNRWA staff of being members of Hamas or the Palestinian Islamic Jihad - proscribed terror organizations in Israel, the UK, the US, and other countries.
However, the UN's independent review, led by a former French foreign minister, said Israel had yet to provide "supporting evidence" for such a claim.
While the report acknowledged UNRWA's "robust framework," it also said it needed to do more to improve its neutrality, staff vetting, and transparency.
On the one hand, the agency insisted that it carry out detailed reference checks on all employees and share staff lists with Israel.
However, Israeli authorities suggested that the report ignored the severity of the problem, claiming that UNRWA has systemic links to Hamas.
The EU's plea came as the US humanitarian envoy to Gaza, David Satterfield, repeated warnings that the risk of famine throughout the Palestinian territory—especially in the north—was very high.
Israel has also been accused of slowing deliveries by subjecting trucks to complex and arbitrary checks, and last month, the UN's top court ordered it to enable the unhindered flow of aid into Gaza.
Satterfield further urged Israel to do everything possible to stop famine and called on more to be done to deliver aid to those in need.
Meanwhile, a separate UN investigation is looking at Israeli allegations that 12 UNRWA staff took part in the Oct. 7 attacks on Israel, which saw around 1,200 people killed and about 250 taken hostage.
UNRWA has allegedly fired 10 of the 12 accused staff members who were still alive in the wake of the allegations.
