After the cessation of UNRWA funding: a round of flour distribution began for families in the southern Gaza Strip
A spokesperson for UNRWA , the UN aid agency for Palestinian refugees, reacted to Israel's findings that 12 of the organization's employees were involved in the surprise attack by Hamas on October 7. "Among those involved, two were killed, two do not know who they are, and the rest were fired," spokesman Adnan Abu Hasana said on Tuesday in a conversation with Ynet. According to Abu Hasana, the agency fires any employee who is involved in such acts, in accordance with the human rights convention to which UNRWA is a signatory.
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At the end of the week, UNRWA announced the opening of an investigation after Israel provided the agency with information about the workers who took part in the massacre on October 7. The U.S., Great Britain and other countries announced the cessation of funding to the agency following the publication of the findings. Israel has been pressing for years to close UNRWA, but every three years the U.N. General Assembly renews the mandate for the agency's activities.
"We are the largest body that manages the Strip at the moment, there is no entity that can do our job," said spokesman Abu Hasna. "We receive goods, distribute them, take care of the displaced in our camps and facilities. In about a month, after our budget runs out, Israel is invited to take care of the civilian population of the Gaza Strip."
The spokesman stated that he was surprised by the decision of several countries to stop funding UNRWA, and added that whenever there is a new recruitment of workers for the agency Israel knows who has been hired. "In Syria and Lebanon, and in general in the conflict areas, whenever there is a recruitment of workers that country receives the list of new workers," Abu Hasna explained.
"In Syria, for example, they make sure that ISIS people are not recruited and they can't be employees. Israel knew who was working for us, why didn't it warn beforehand that it didn't want a certain person? Why only after (October 7) happened and only after the war started did Israel remember four or five terrorists?"
The spokesperson explained regarding the distribution of aid to citizens in Gaza, that the agency personnel receive the trucks and the Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT) decides what is necessary and what is not. And there is not enough food for everyone," said Abu Hasna. "There are places in northern Gaza that do not receive aid at all, and they have started eating food intended for animals."
Abu Hasna is worried about a long continuation of the war. "I don't have any scripts in my head, but Israel, which has occupied the Strip, needs to take care of the population in terms of food, shelter and medical treatments. We finish our budget at the end of the month, and after that we don't know what will happen," he said.