New York: Europe and the Arabs
Secretary-General António Guterres said that the United Nations is taking urgent action following very serious allegations against a number of employees of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA). "The investigation by the United Nations Office of Internal Oversight Services was activated immediately," he added.
The United Nations had received information from the Israeli authorities about allegations that 12 UNRWA employees participated in the October 7 attacks on Israel.
The Secretary-General said, in a press statement: “Among the twelve people, nine were - immediately - identified and their contracts terminated by UNRWA Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini, and one person was confirmed dead, while the identity of the other two people is being clarified.” According to what was stated in the daily United Nations news bulletin
Guterres stressed that any United Nations employee involved in terrorist acts will be held accountable, including through criminal prosecution. He said that the United Nations Secretariat is ready to cooperate with a qualified authority capable of prosecuting individuals in line with the Secretariat’s procedures regarding such cooperation. He pointed out that UNRWA had announced on January 17 a full and independent review of its work.
The Secretary-General said that two million civilians in Gaza depend on vital assistance provided by the Agency for their daily survival. He stated that UNRWA's current funding would not allow it to meet all their requirements in February.
Nine countries announced the temporary suspension of their funding to UNRWA after these allegations. Guterres said that he understood her concerns and that he himself was horrified by these accusations, but he strongly appealed to the governments that suspended their contributions to at least ensure the continuation of UNRWA operations.
“The alleged abhorrent actions of these staff must have consequences,” Guterres said in his press statement. “But the tens of thousands of women and men who work with UNRWA, many of whom work in some of the most dangerous conditions for aid workers, must not be punished.” The Secretary-General stressed the need to meet the urgent needs of the desperate populations served by the agency's staff.
For his part, the head of the National Council, Rawhi Fattouh, said on Saturday evening that the programmed campaign of incitement launched by the extreme right-wing Israeli government against the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) is not new, but rather an old occupation plan for years whose goal is to erase the refugee issue and the right of return and compensation that it approved. International legitimacy in accordance with Resolution 194 of 1948. According to what was reported by the Middle East News Agency on Sunday
Fattouh added - in a statement issued by him - that the Israeli incitement against UNRWA is retaliation against the Secretary-General of the United Nations, Antonio Guterres, and the international institution because of his positions and reports, on which the International Court of Justice relied, prosecuting Israel for committing genocide crimes against the Palestinian people, and the occupation also aims to cover up For his crimes against the Palestinian people and against the educational and health institutions affiliated with them, which caused the crushing and annihilation of thousands of displaced people who took refuge in the agency’s centers to escape the massacres of the fascist occupation army, as well as the killing of dozens of UNRWA employees, the most recent of which was the bombing of its industry school.
Fattouh called on the countries that announced the cessation of their support for UNRWA not to follow the media and extremist occupation machine of the Nazi right-wing government, which aims to end the refugee issue and deprive the refugees who benefit from the health and educational services provided by the UNRWA. Which will push many refugees to voluntarily migrate from the Gaza Strip, so that the chapters of the conspiracy of the war of cleansing, extermination, and forced migration will be completed by transforming them into voluntary migration.
He called on countries not to rush and issue pre-emptive rulings and immediately withdraw from stopping their support for UNRWA, in line with the followed legal procedures, especially all the accusations mentioned that stem from the racist occupation.
Fattouh also called on the countries that announced they would stop funding UNRWA, the United States of America, Britain, Canada, Australia and Finland, to immediately reverse their hasty decisions and check the cheap propaganda that Israel is spreading against the international agency that was established in accordance with Resolution 302 issued by the General Assembly in 1949.