From the Liveblog of
Tuesday, October 29, 2024
Israeli official: UNRWA already reduced in Gaza, Knesset vote only strengthens process
Add ToI as a Preferred Source on GoogleLazar Berman is The Times of Israel's diplomatic reporter
An Israeli official tells The Times of Israel that UNRWA “was already limited and reduced” in Gaza in recent months. The UN agency for Palestinian refugees is not the leading agency providing aid in Gaza anymore, the official continues, as Israel has been systematically “minimizing its activities” in the Strip.
“The Knesset vote strengthens processes that are already happening,” the official says, pointing at UNICEF taking the lead on polio vaccinations, and the UN World Food Programme taking the lead on food distribution.
“It’s hard to know where Hamas ends and UNRWA begins,” the official adds.
The official argues that UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres is uninterested in investigating UNRWA employees’ involvement in the October 7 attacks, because he would have to admit that the organization violated its neutrality in the most blatant way.
Guterres, continues the official, also has an interest in using overblown claims about a humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza to push for an end to the war.
When Israel presents officials from allied countries with evidence of dozens of UNRWA employees working for Hamas and involved in attacks against Israel, says the official, “they don’t disagree, they just say now is not the right time” to take action against the agency.
The Times of Israel Community.