The United Nations Relief Works Agency (UNRWA) has called for Israel to be “held accountable” for sponsoring a campaign criticizing the agency’s links to Hamas.
UNRWA is the UN’s exclusive relief agency for Palestinian refugees. In the past, it has been subject to extensive criticism for its employment of individuals with ties to terrorist organizations.
Last January, Israeli intelligence reports exposed connections between UNRWA and Hamas.
Since then, Israel has opposed UNRWA’s existence and refused to cooperate with it.
Now, UNRWA is accusing Israel of using commercial advertisements around the world in a campaign to undermine the agency.
“This latest global effort by a UN member state to label a UN agency as a terror organisation may amount to hate speech using corporations that are supposed to promote commercial products,” reads an UNRWA press release.
The Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) responded via X, claiming UNRWA has “been spreading misinformation regarding the humanitarian situation in Gaza for quite some time now, and some of your workers are proven to be terrorists.”
Israel’s reports claim around 1,200 of UNRWA’s roughly 12,000 Gaza employees have links to Hamas or Palestinian Islamic Jihad.
Additionally, nearly 6,000 have close relatives who belong to the Islamist militant groups.
The US has granted hundreds of millions of dollars to UNRWA, which in 2022 reported a budget of $1.17 billion.
Since President Joe Biden took office, the US has granted UNRWA and associated entities over half a billion dollars in assistance.
After Hamas’ brutal attacks against Israel on October 7th, many American lawmakers called for the US to cut all aid to Gaza, including funds for UNRWA.
Despite pressure to cut aid, President Joe Biden maintained it after overturning former President Donald Trump’s administration’s decision to cease granting Gaza any US aid.
