United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres vows to hold “all UN staff involved in acts of terrorism” accountable. The people’s organization is under fire after the report that twelve employees of its aid organization for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) were allegedly involved in Hamas’s attacks on Israel on October 7.
Of the twelve employees against whom suspicions have arisen, nine have been fired and one has died, according to Guterres. The identities of the other two have yet to be clarified.
Guterres has called on countries that have suspended their financial contributions to UNRWA in recent days to reverse that decision.
“The tens of thousands of men and women who work for UNRWA, many of whom find themselves in the most dangerous situations, should not be punished.” Guterres also believes that the ‘desperate’ Palestinian population should not be abandoned.
UNRWA director Philippe Lazzarini called it “irresponsible to punish the agency at a time of war, displacement and political crises.”
UNRWA has 30,000 staff members who provide food aid, medical care and education to Palestinians who have fled since the end of the Second World War in the Gaza Strip, the West Bank, Jordan, Lebanon, Syria and Iraq.
It is still not clear what the twelve suspected UNRWA employees are up to. The accusations have been made by Israel, but that country has also not provided details.
Peter van Ammelrooy