UNITED NATIONS (AP) 鈥� An independent review of the neutrality of the U.N. agency helping Palestinian refugees found that Israel never expressed concern about anyone on the staff lists it has received annually since 2011. The review was carried out after Israel alleged that a dozen employees of the agency known as UNRWA had participated in .
In a wide-ranging 48-page report released Monday, the independent panel said has 鈥渞obust鈥� procedures to uphold the U.N. principle of neutrality, but it cited serious gaps in implementation, including staff publicly expressing political views, textbooks used in schools the agency runs with 鈥減roblematic content鈥� and staff unions disrupting operations.
From 2017 to 2022, the report said the annual being breached at UNRWA ranged from seven to 55. But between January 2022 and February 2024, U.N. investigators received 151 allegations, most related to social media posts 鈥渕ade public by external sources," it said.
In a key section on the neutrality of staff, the panel, which was led by former French Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna, said UNRWA shares lists of staff with host countries for its 32,000 staff, including about 13,000 in Gaza. But it said Israeli officials never expressed concern and informed panel members it did not consider the list 鈥渁 screening or vetting process鈥� but rather a procedure to register diplomats.
The Israeli Foreign Ministry informed the panel that until March 2024 the staff lists did not include Palestinian identification numbers, the report said.
Apparently based on those numbers, 鈥淚srael made public claims that a significant number of UNRWA employees are ,鈥� the panel said. 鈥淗owever, Israel has yet to provide supporting evidence of this.鈥�
Israel鈥檚 allegations led to the by the United States and more than a dozen other countries. That amounted to a pause in funding worth about $450 million, according to Monday鈥檚 report, but a number of countries have resumed contributions.
Israel's Foreign Ministry on Monday called on donor countries to .
鈥淭he Colonna report ignores the severity of the problem, and offers cosmetic solutions that do not deal with the enormous scope of Hamas鈥� infiltration of UNRWA,鈥� ministry spokesperson Oren Marmorstein said. 鈥淭his is not what a genuine and thorough review looks like. This is what an effort to avoid the problem and not address it head on looks like.鈥�
Colonna, speaking at the United Nations as the report was released, said the panel had been well received by Israelis while conducting its review and she urged the Israeli government not to discount it. 鈥淥f course you will find it is insufficient, but please take it on board. Whatever we recommend, if implemented, will bring good.鈥�
The report stresses the critical importance of UNRWA, calling it 鈥渋rreplaceable and indispensable to Palestinians鈥� human and economic development鈥� in the absence of a political solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and 鈥減ivotal in providing life-saving humanitarian aid and essential social services, particularly in health and education, to Palestinian refugees in Gaza, Jordan, Lebanon, Syria and the West Bank."
U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric welcomed this commitment to UNRWA and said the report 鈥渓ays out clear recommendations, which the secretary-general accepts.鈥�
UNRWA鈥檚 Commissioner General Philippe Lazzarini said last week he accepts all recommendations. As Israel has called for the breakup of the agency, Lazzarini told the U.N. Security Council that and speed up the onset of famine.
International experts have warned of imminent famine in northern Gaza and said half the territory鈥檚 2.3 million people could be pushed to the brink of starvation if the Israeli-Hamas war intensifies.
Separately, U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres also ordered the U.N. internal watchdog, the Office of Internal Oversight Services, to carry out an investigation into the Israeli allegations that 12 UNRWA staffers participated in the Oct. 7 attacks. That report is eagerly awaited.
In its interim report on March 20, the panel noted UNRWA鈥檚 鈥渟ignificant number of mechanisms and procedures to ensure compliance with the humanitarian principles of neutrality鈥� but also identified 鈥渃ritical areas that need to be addressed.鈥�
Edith M. Lederer, The Associated Press
