UN Palestine Agency chief seeks probe into treatment of Gaza staff by Israel

The head of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) called, on Tuesday, for countries to back an independent investigation into alleged killings and detentions of its staff and damage to its premises once the Israel-Palestine conflict ends, Reuters reports.

UNRWA has accused Israel of targeting its facilities during more than seven months of conflict in the Gaza Strip, and said 182 of its staff there had been killed and more than 160 of its shelters hit, resulting in the deaths of hundreds of people fleeing Israeli bombardment.

After briefing UN member states in Geneva, UNRWA Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini told reporters he wanted the countries to back an independent investigation “to look into this blatant disregard of the United Nations in order to avoid that this becomes also in the future the new standard”.

Lazzarini said Israel blocked him from entering Gaza last month, and that he plans to visit again on Sunday. He voiced hope that Israel would let him in.

UNRWA is the biggest humanitarian aid provider in Gaza, where its 13,000 staff there also run schools and social services for the refugees who make up the majority of Gazans.

READ: UNRWA mandate being changed to resettle Palestine refugees in host countries, rights group warns

Israel accuses 19 of its staff members of taking part in the 7 October Hamas attacks against Israel that killed 1,200 people and triggered Israel’s military offensive.

However, since then, it has been revealed by Haaretz that helicopters and tanks of the Israeli army had, in fact, killed many of the 1,139 soldiers and civilians claimed by Israel to have been killed by the Palestinian Resistance.

Health authorities in Gaza say more than 34,000 Palestinians have been killed in the offensive, intended by Israel to eliminate the Palestinian group.

Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, has called for UNRWA to be shut down, saying it seeks to preserve the issue of Palestinian refugees.

Israel has repeatedly equated UNRWA staff with Hamas members in efforts to discredit them, providing no proof of the claims, while lobbying hard to have UNRWA closed as it is the only UN agency to have a specific mandate to look after the basic needs of Palestinian refugees. If the agency no longer exists, argues Israel, then the refugee issue must no longer exist, and the legitimate right for Palestinian refugees to return to their land will be unnecessary. Israel has denied that right of return since the late 1940s, even though its own membership of the UN was made conditional upon Palestinian refugees being allowed to return to their homes and land.

A review of the Agency’s neutrality said Israel had yet to provide evidence for its accusations that a significant number of UNRWA staff were members of terrorist groups and Lazzarini said that all but a handful of countries had now unblocked funds they had paused after the Israeli allegations.

The agency has also raised $115 million in private funding, he said.

Another UN investigation into the allegations against UNRWA staff members is still under way.

Food and other humanitarian aid supplies to Gaza have improved in April, but there is still far from enough to reverse the trend towards famine, he said.

READ: Red Cross: We will not replace UNRWA in Gaza