The US authorities stated Friday that it was briefly pausing extra funding for UNRWA, the United Nations humanitarian company that serves Palestinians, because the group stated it had opened an investigation into allegations from Israel that a few of its workers members participated in Hamas’ Oct. 7 assault.
On Oct. 7, Hamas militants, designated a terrorist group by Israel, the U.S. and the European Union, killed round 1,200 individuals in Israel and kidnapped about 240 others, in accordance with Israeli officers.
UNRWA stated it had fired the workers who had been accused.
“The Israeli authorities have offered UNRWA with details about the alleged involvement of a number of UNRWA staff within the horrific assaults on Israel on October 7,” Philippe Lazzarini, UNRWA Commissioner-Normal, stated in an announcement Friday, in accordance with the Reuters information company. “To guard the company’s skill to ship humanitarian help, I’ve taken the choice to right away terminate the contracts of those workers members and launch an investigation with a purpose to set up the reality immediately.”
Lazzarini didn’t say what number of UNRWA staff had been accused of collaborating within the assault, however stated “any UNRWA worker who was concerned in acts of terror” could be held accountable, and presumably face legal prosecution. 30,000 individuals work for UNWRA, in accordance with its web site. State Division spokesperson Matthew Miller stated 12 UNRWA staff had been accused of collaborating within the Oct. 7 assault.
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Stéphane Dujarric, spokesperson for U.N. Secretary-Normal Antonio Guterres, stated in a social media publish that Guterres had been briefed by Lazzarini on the “extraordinarily severe allegations” towards the UNRWA workers and that he was “horrified by this information and has requested Mr. Lazzarini to analyze this matter swiftly.”
The U.N. chief had urged the termination of the staffers and a referral for legal prosecution of any UNRWA staff discovered to have participated within the assault.
The US, the most important funder of UNRWA, introduced that it will briefly pause additional funding for the company “whereas we overview these allegations and the steps the United Nations is taking to handle them.”
State Division spokesperson Matthew Miller stated in an announcement that the U.S. was “extraordinarily troubled” by the allegations and had reached out to the Israeli authorities about them. He stated members of Congress had been briefed.
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken spoke with Guterres Thursday to debate the allegations and instructed him “there should be full accountability for anybody who participated within the heinous assaults,” in accordance with Miller’s assertion.
The U.S. has put its help for UNRWA on maintain beforehand, underneath former President Trump in 2018, and the company has lengthy been accused by Israel of turning a blind eye to Hamas actions in Gaza.
The Biden administration resumed the U.S. funding in 2021, and is now asking Congress for a further help package deal for Israel and the Palestinians.
CBS Information’ Margaret Brennan, Olivia Gazis and Camila Schick in Washington contributed to this report.
Israel & Hamas At Struggle
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