The United Nations aid agency in the Gaza Strip says it has only weeks of funding remaining after multiple sponsor nations suspended their support.
At least nine countries and the European Union have suspended or cut back funding for the U.N. Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) following revelations that at least a dozen of its workers were connected to Hamas’ October 7 attack on Israel. About 10% of its 12,000 employees in Gaza were found to have links to terror groups across the Middle East, according to an Israeli intelligence dossier reported by The Wall Street Journal.
Israeli officials say the problems inside the UNRWA are more extensive than a few bad actors. Roughly half of all UNRWA workers in Gaza have close relatives with ties to terror groups, especially Hamas. The WSJ cited the dossier in its report which said six UNRWA workers “were part of the wave of Palestinian militants who killed 1,200 people in the deadliest assault on Jews since the Holocaust.”
“The institution as a whole is a haven for Hamas’ radical ideology,” a senior Israeli government official told WSJ.
Since the revelations, the U.N. aid agency has bled funding. Many of its top donors, including the United States which gave more than $340 million to the UNRWA last year, have suspended funding over concerns that aid money is being redirected to Hamas. U.N. officials are pleading for a return of funding, saying that its coffers will run dry by the end of February.
“[Two] million civilians in Gaza depend on critical aid from UNRWA for daily survival but UNRWA’s current funding will not allow it to meet all requirements to support them in February,” U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said in a statement. “While I understand their concerns – I was myself horrified by these accusations – I strongly appeal to the governments that have suspended their contributions to, at least, guarantee the continuity of UNRWA’s operations.”
Guterres said that action is being taken against the 12 workers, some of whom participated directly in the terror attack, with connections to October 7.
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Along with the United States, other countries that have suspended or reduced funding to the UNRWA include Australia, Austria, Canada, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom, according to Fox News.
The European Commission of the European Union has also announced a pause on funding the UNRWA, calling for a quick investigation. The commission said it would make a decision to restore funding no sooner than the end of February.
“The European Commission will determine upcoming funding decisions for UNRWA in light of the very serious allegations,” the commission said in a statement, according to The Jerusalem Post. “The Commission will review the matter in light of the outcome of the investigation announced by the UN and the actions it will take.”