Former French foreign minister Colonna to lead probe into UNRWA

Former French foreign minister Catherine Colonna will lead a panel charged with investigating allegations levelled by Israel against the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), the United Nations said on Monday.

Colonna will work together with experts from the Raoul Wallenberg Institute in Sweden, the Michelsen Institute in Norway and the Danish Institute for Human Rights to investigate allegations against the agency.

Israel has accused several UNRWA employees of being involved in the October 7 terror attacks led by the Palestinian militant group Hamas. Several major Western donors to UNRWA, including the United States and Germany, temporarily suspended payments to the Gaza relief agency over the allegations.

Colonna's group is due to begin its work on February 14, with an interim report expected sometime before the end of March.

The expert panel is expected to consider whether UNRWA has violated measures aimed at maintaining the group's neutrality in the Gaza Strip, which Hamas has been ruling since 2007.

Earlier on Monday, the Spanish government announced it would support the embattled UN agency with a special payment of €3.5 million ($3.8 million).

The funds are intended to make sure that the UNRWA can maintain its activities in the short term, Spanish Foreign Minister José Manuel Albares told the Committee on International Cooperation in the House of Commons in Madrid on Monday.

Albares called UNRWA an "indispensable organization" and said he had already informed the international relief agency's leader, Philippe Lazzarini, of Spain's plans on Friday.

The humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip is "desperate," Albares said.

The Gaza war was triggered by the unprecedented attacks by militants from the Palestinian Hamas organization and other extremist groups in Israel on October 7. More than 1,200 Israelis were killed, including around 850 civilians.

In response, Israel's massive airstrikes and ground offensive in Gaza have killed 27,478 Palestinians since the war began, according to the health authority in the coastal strip.

A few days ago, UNRWA warned that it might have to stop all its work in the Gaza Strip in four weeks' time if promised funds were not provided.

Hamas, which has ruled Gaza since 2007, led the October 7 attacks and is considered a terrorist group by the United States, Israel and the European Union.

Israel has alleged that several UNRWA employees took part in the October 7 attacks.