'Neutrality' issues found at UN agency for Palestinians, but no terrorism proof

An independent review group on the UN agency for Palestinians – led by former French foreign minister Catherine Colonna – found "neutrality-related issues" but noted Israel had yet to provide evidence for allegations that a significant number of its staff were members of terrorist organisations.

The United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) remains "irreplaceable and indispensable to Palestinians' human and economic development," added the report, which was released late Monday.

The review group was created following allegations made by Israel in January that 12 UNRWA staff may have participated in the 7 October, 2023 Hamas attacks. In the weeks that followed, numerous donor states suspended or paused some $450 million (€422 million) in funding.

Many have since resumed funding, including Sweden, Canada, Japan, the EU, France and more – while others, including the United States and Britain – have not. Congress passed a law last month preventing the US from funding UNRWA until March 2025.

Those pauses to the main aid organ in Gaza come as months of Israeli military operations have turned the territory into a "humanitarian hellscape," UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said recently, with its 2.3 million people in desperate need of food, water, shelter and medicine.

Colonna's team was tasked with assessing whether UNRWA was "doing everything within its power to ensure neutrality," while Guterres activated a second investigation to probe Israel's allegations.

Problematic content

But it added "Israel has yet to provide supporting evidence" for a recent claim that UNRWA employs more than 400 "terrorists."

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