The boss of the controversial United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) has described reports that Israeli hostages were held in at least one of its shelters in Gaza as “disturbing and shocking.” Philippe Lazzarini added that the allegation was taken “extremely seriously”—but made no attempt to disprove its validity.
“UNRWA isn’t even denying it anymore,” said Mark Goldfeder, director of America’s National Jewish Advocacy Center:
Shut it down.
Hillel Neuer, from the human rights group UN Watch, also expressed doubt over UNRWA’s claim it didn’t know hostages were—and perhaps are still being—held in one of its refugee camps, suggesting the body knew about this all along.
A series of scandals—including damning reports some of the agency’s staff were involved in the October 7th attacks—led to President Donald Trump yesterday signing an executive order withdrawing the U.S. from UNRWA. The order criticised UN agencies for “attacking our allies and propagating antisemitism.”
But much of Europe continues to take a different, apparently counter-factual approach.
On the same day that Lazzarini commented on the possible holding of Israeli hostages in an UNRWA camp, German, French, and UK foreign affairs officials came together to “reiterate our support for UNRWA’s UN-mandate to provide essential services and humanitarian assistance to Palestine refugees in the Occupied Palestinian Territories,” and to hail the agency as “an integral part of the response to the humanitarian crisis in Gaza.”
They also urged Israel to repeal its ban on UNRWA operations in Israeli-controlled territories, to which Jerusalem responded that
Those who wish to support the humanitarian aid effort in the Gaza Strip should invest their resources in organizations alternative to UNRWA.
The UK foreign office has still failed to respond to the question posed in these pages by the Campaign Against Antisemitism: “What assurances do we have that UK taxpayer money did not fund the captivity and immiseration of these hostages?”
It is not as if the government is not aware of such reports; a British-Israeli woman who was held hostage by Hamas told Prime Minister Keir Starmer herself that she was held at an UNRWA site.
