Israel has given the UN a proposal to dismantle Unrwa, its relief agency in the Palestinian territories, and transfer its staff to a replacement agency to make large-scale food deliveries into Gaza, according to UN sources.
The proposal was presented late last week by the Israeli chief of the general staff, Lt Gen Herzi Halevi, to UN officials in Israel, who forwarded it to the organisation’s secretary general, António Guterres, on Saturday, sources familiar with the discussions said.
Unrwa was not involved in the talks as the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) have been refusing to deal with it since last Monday, on the basis of claims, so far unproven, of affiliations of some of the agency’s staff with Hamas or Islamic Jihad.
Israel insists it is prepared to allow large amounts of aid into Gaza and that the limiting factor is UN capacity. Its decision not to cooperate with Unrwa severely affects that capacity.
This is the best summary I could come up with:
Unrwa was not involved in the talks as the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) have been refusing to deal with it since last Monday, on the basis of claims, so far unproven, of affiliations of some of the agency’s staff with Hamas or Islamic Jihad.
On Thursday the international court of justice, which is examining genocide charges against Israel, ordered the Israeli government to take “all necessary and effective measures” to ensure the large-scale delivery of aid to Gaza “in full cooperation with the United Nations”.
Unrwa is by far the biggest aid organisation in Gaza, employing 13,000 staff at the time the war broke out, 3,000 of whom are still doing their jobs, as well as tens of thousands more across the West Bank and elsewhere in the Middle East.
In addition to distributing food, the agency is a major employer in Gaza, providing teaching and essential medical services as healthcare in the enclave crumbles.
Earlier this month, the US Congress voted for a spending bill that included a clause blocking future US financing of Unrwa, but other national donors have resumed their funding in the weeks since the UN launched two inquiries.
An interim report by the Colonna inquiry on 20 March said Unrwa had a “significant number of mechanisms and procedures” to ensure its neutrality but that critical areas still needed to be addressed.
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