Restoring UNRWA’s funding will depend on a UN investigation and on remedial steps put in place by the humanitarian organization, US Department of State spokesman Matthew Miller said on Tuesday.
The US needs to see continued accountability from UNRWA and measures put in place to ensure this will never happen again, Miller said, after, on Friday, Israel provided UNRWA with data alleging that 12 of its staff members had been part of the October 7 attack against southern Israel, in which over 1,200 people were killed and another 253 seized hostage.
Miller said the US has confidence in the UN’s ability to conduct the investigation. He pointed out that the US provided $121 million to UNRWA since the fiscal year began on October 1.
Miller acknowledged the dire humanitarian situation in Gaza, emphasizing that no group other than UNRWA can provide the extent of food, water, and medication that Gaza needs.
UNRWA USA, a non-profit independent of the UN, supports UNRWA’s humanitarian assistance in Gaza and the West Bank. It said on Monday that it was horrified by the allegations. It added, though, that “even as the investigation proceeds, it is imperative to recognize that the humanitarian situation in Gaza is catastrophic, with the entire population facing food insecurity and over 500,000 facing famine-level starvation.”
US wants to see 'fundamental change' before resuming funding
Linda Thomas-Greenfield, the US envoy to the UN, said on Tuesday that Washington needs to see “fundamental changes” before its funding can resume and welcomed the UN’s decision to conduct an investigation.
She said: “We need to look at the organization, how it operates in Gaza, how they manage their staff, and to ensure that people who commit criminal acts, such as these 12 individuals, are held accountable immediately so that UNRWA can continue the essential work that it’s doing.”
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Tuesday that the evidence is credible while stressing that it was not possible to replace the organization’s role as the major humanitarian service provider in the region.
“We couldn’t investigate [the allegations] ourselves, but they are highly, highly credible,” Blinken told reporters in Washington.
Blinken said that UNRWA reported to the US on the situation and that he found the information “deeply, deeply troubling.”
The US is one of UNRWA’s largest donors, with a $1.6 billion budget that is expected to increase in 2024, the largest support by annual donor funding. That funding is contingent on UNRWA and its staff not being involved in incitement against Israel and engaging in terrorism.
UNRWA fired nine of the staff members accused of taking part in the attack, including kidnapping.
Blinken said it was “imperative that UNRWA immediately, as it said it would, investigate; that it holds people accountable as necessary; and that it reviews its procedures.”
He said he had spoken about the issue with UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and that the US would be “looking very hard at the steps that UNRWA takes to make sure that this is fully and thoroughly investigated, that there’s clear accountability, and that as necessary, measures are put in place so that this doesn’t happen again.”
The US is among at least 18 donor countries – including Latvia, Lithuania, and New Zealand – that have suspended funding already pledged toward the 2024 budget until the UN investigation is completed.
At risk is over $363 million in pledged funds. UNRWA warned that if the suspensions are not rescinded, it could be forced to halt its services to 5.9 million Palestinians in Gaza, the West Bank, east Jerusalem, Lebanon, Jordan, and Syria.
Its efforts have been considered particularly critical in Gaza, where 2.3 million Palestinians are displaced in the enclave; UNRWA services most of that population.
UNRWA’s role as a humanitarian service provider is “indispensable,” Blinken said.
“No one else can play the role that UNRWA’s been playing, certainly not in the near term. No one has the reach, the capacity, the structure to do what UNRWA’s been doing. And from our perspective, it’s important – more than important; imperative – that that role continues,” Blinken stated.
“That only underscores the importance of UNRWA tackling this as quickly, as effectively, and as thoroughly as possible, and that’s what we’re looking for,” he stated.
At the UN in New York, Guterres’s spokesperson, Stephane Dujarric, said that the organization was taking “very seriously” the allegation that had been made.
He noted that there were two different dossiers of information that Israel privately released, of which only one that had been shared with the UN was the report that dealt with the participation of staff members. The UN has not seen the larger dossiers, reported on by Reuters and other media agencies, regarding the links between Hamas and 190 of the UNRWA staff.
Israel has not made public its data against UNRWA.
Reuters contributed to this report.