The United Nations has failed to tackle the extent to which Hamas has infiltrated the UN Relief and Works Agency in Gaza, Israel’s Foreign Minister Israel Katz said on Monday as he slammed a newly published report about the neutrality issues within the organization.
“Hamas has infiltrated UNRWA so deeply that it is no longer possible to determine where UNRWA ends and where Hamas begins,” Katz said.
He is among the many politicians on the Israeli Right who have long called on the UN to close the organization which services 5.9 million Palestinian refugees in Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, Gaza, the West Bank, and east Jerusalem.
It’s a call that has grown stronger in Israel, as it uncovered evidence that some of UNRWA’s staff belonged to Hamas or the Palestinian Islamic Jihad and that some 12 of its employees had participated in the October 7 attack against Israel.
“More than 2,135 UNRWA workers are members of either Hamas or Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ), while one-fifth of UNRWA school administrators are Hamas members,” Katz said.
"Not what a genuine thorough review looks like"
“The problem with UNRWA-Gaza isn't that of a few bad apples; it is a rotten and poisonous tree whose roots are Hamas,” Katz stated.
He spoke after former French Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna submitted a report reviewing neutrality issues in the organization.
While she found flaws within UNRWA that caused problems with neutrality, she still concluded that it was important that the organization continue its unique work servicing Palestinian refugees.
Her report, which was commissioned by UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, is separate from the UN investigation into charges that 12 UNRWA staff members who participated in the October 7 attack against Israel.
“The Colonna report ignores the severity of the problem, and offers cosmetic solutions that do not deal with the enormous scope of Hamas' infiltration of UNRWA,” Katz stated.
“This 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.
“Israel calls on the donor countries to refrain from transferring their taxpayers' money to UNRWA-Gaza, as these funds will go to the Hamas terrorist organization, and that violates legislation in the donor countries themselves.
Donor countries should "transfer their funds to other humanitarian organizations in Gaza,” Katz stated.
“UNRWA-Gaza is part of the problem and not part of the solution. There are other solutions. UNRWA can not be part of the solution in Gaza not now, and not in the future,” Katz said.