U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Wednesday described the U.N. Palestinian refugee agency (UNRWA) as "the backbone of all humanitarian response in Gaza" and appealed to all countries to "guarantee the continuity of UNRWA's lifesaving work."
The United States is the biggest donor to the U.N. Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East and has temporarily paused its funding - along with several other countries - after Israel accused some agency staff of taking part in the Oct. 7 attack by Hamas militants.
"I was personally horrified by these accusations," Guterres told the U.N. Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People. "Yesterday, I met with donors to listen to their concerns and to outline the steps we are taking to address them."
The accusations became public on Friday when UNRWA announced it had fired some staff after Israel provided the agency with information. Guterres said on Sunday that of 12 people implicated nine were fired, one is dead, and the identity of the remaining two was being clarified.
At a meeting of the U.N. Security Council on Gaza on Wednesday, U.N. aid chief Martin Griffiths stressed the importance of UNRWA.
"To put it very simply and bluntly: our humanitarian response for the occupied Palestinian territory is dependent, completely dependent, on UNRWA being adequately funded and operational," Griffiths told the 15-member council.
"UNRWA's lifesaving services ... to over three quarters of Gaza's residents should not be jeopardized by the alleged actions of a few individuals. It is a matter of extraordinary disproportion," he said.
U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Linda Thomas-Greenfield told the council that Washington's decision to temporarily pause funding was made independently from other donors.
"Let me be clear, it was not a punitive measure. But it is a wake up call. We need to see fundamental changes at UNRWA to prevent this from happening again," she said.
An Israeli intelligence dossier, seen by Reuters on Monday, includes accusations that some UNRWA staff took part in abductions and killings during the Oct. 7 raid that sparked the Gaza war and alleges some 190 UNRWA employees have doubled as Hamas or Islamic Jihad militants.
The Palestinians have accused Israel of falsifying information to tarnish UNRWA.
UNRWA employs 13,000 people in Gaza, running schools, its primary healthcare clinics and other social services, and distributing humanitarian aid.
"The humanitarian system in Gaza is collapsing," Guterres said. "I am extremely concerned by the inhumane conditions faced by Gaza's 2.2 million people, as they struggle to survive without any of the basics."
