Urgent steps must be taken to correct the situation around the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), Russian Deputy Ambassador to the UN Dmitry Polyanskiy said on Monday.
“A sad example of disinformation is the smear campaign launched by west Jerusalem against the Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East aimed at eliminating the activities of the Agency in the occupied Palestinian Territories (OPT), which, despite external pressure, has been effectively assisting Palestine refugees in the OPT for more than 70 years in extremely difficult conditions,” Polyanskiy said. “We consider it necessary to take urgent measures to rectify this situation around UNRWA.”
Polyanskiy added that to date, more than 180 Agency employees have been killed in the Gaza Strip, making it “an absolute anti-record” for the UN.
In January, Israel shared data with UNRWA's leadership on the alleged involvement of some of its staff members in the October 7 Hamas attack and vowed to hold accountable anyone involved in "acts of terror." A number of countries, including the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany, France, Canada, Japan and others, responded by suspending funding to the agency. By March, however, many of these nations had decided to resume their funding.
In early February, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres appointed an independent review panel led by former French Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna to check UNRWA's activities for alleged links with Hamas. Their final report, published last Monday, said that Israel had provided no evidence of the agency's workers allegedly being members of "terrorist organizations."
Colonna's UN panel is probing allegations against 19 UNRWA staff and has closed one case and suspended four others due to a lack of evidence, Spokesman Stephane Dujarric said on Friday.