Spain to send UN's embattled Palestinian refugee agency in Gaza US$3.8 million
Palestinians gather to receive bags of flour distributed by the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip on February 1, 2024, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas. (Photo: REUTERS/Ibraheem Abu Mustafa)
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Spain will send the United Nations' Palestinian refugee agency UNRWA an additional 3.5 million euros (US$3.8 million) in aid, Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Albares told lawmakers on Monday (Feb 5).
Major donors to UNRWA, including the United States and Germany, suspended funding after allegations emerged that around 12 of its tens of thousands of Palestinian employees were suspected of involvement in the Oct 7 attacks in Israel by Hamas.
Madrid contributed 18.5 million euros directly to UNRWA in 2023, including 10 million euros approved in December following the decision to triple development and humanitarian aid to the Palestinian territories.
FORMER FRENCH FM TO REVIEW UNRWA
At the same time, a former French foreign minister will lead a review of operations at the embattled UN agency for Palestinian refugees in Gaza, which will be conducted by three independent research organizations in Scandinavia.
Catherine Colonna’s appointment was announced Monday by UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres after consultations with the head of the aid agency known as UNRWA.
Guterres also named the three organizations selected to carry out the review: the Raoul Wallenberg Institute in Sweden, the Chr. Michelsen Institute in Norway, and the Danish Institute for Human Rights.
Guterres said the final report will be completed by late April and made public.
UNRWA’s Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini requested an independent review of the agency following Israeli allegations that 12 of its 13,000 Gaza staff participated in Hamas’ Oct 7 attacks in southern Israel, which led to the current war.
UNRWA SUPPLIES AID TO MILLIONS OF PEOPLE
More than a dozen countries suspended aid to UNRWA because of the allegations.
UNRWA provides vital aid and services to millions of people across the Middle East, and in Gaza, it has been the main supplier of food, water and shelter to civilians during the current war.
The group conducting the review will start work on Feb 14 with a mandate, “To identify the mechanisms and procedures that the Agency currently has in place to ensure neutrality and to respond to allegations or information indicating that the principle may have been breached.”
It is also charged with determining whether or not these measures have been implemented and whether they are adequate, and to make recommendations for improving them if necessary. Its mandate says the group should take into account “the particular operational, political and security environment in which the agency works.”
The independent review will take place alongside an investigation of the Israeli allegations by the UN's internal watchdog, the Office of Internal Oversight Services, ordered by Guterres.
