Twelve UNWRA staff members allegedly took part in the October 7th massacre.
By Vered Weiss, World Israel News
On Sunday, France and Japan joined 9 other countries that suspended their funding for UNRWA over allegations that 12 members of its staff took active involvement in the October 7th massacre.
The French Foreign Ministry announced, “France has not planned a new payment for the first half of 2024 and will decide when the time comes on the action to take together with the United Nations and the main donors.”
They added that the allegations were “exceptionally serious.”
On Friday, 9 countries said they would suspend their funding for the United Nations Relief Workers Agency for Palestine when it came to light that UNRWA workers not only praised the Hamas atrocities on a private Telegram group but may have participated in the actual massacres that left 1,200 people dead and 250 as hostages in Gaza.
The first nine countries to pull their funding from UNRWA were the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Germany, Italy, Finland, the Netherlands, Switzerland, and Australia.
UNWRA said that several employees were fired over the allegations.
However, Jordan and Turkey were critical of the move to cut funding to UNRWA, with Jordan calling it “collective punishment”.
On X, Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi wrote: “UNRWA is the lifeline for over 2m Palestinians facing starvation in Gaza.”
He added, “It shouldn’t be collectively punished upon allegations against 12 persons out of its 13,000 staff.”
However, not only is the news of possible involvement in terrorist acts such as mutilation, rape, and murder leading countries to stop funding UNWRA, but the October 7th crimes are a culmination of many allegations Israel has made against the organization over the years which until now haven’t been acted upon.
As early as 2021, UNRWA admitted that there were tunnels located under their schools, and during IDF operations in Gaza, soldiers uncovered weapons and ammunition in school rooms where young children were taught.
There were also reports that an UNRWA teacher was involved in guarding hostages in their home.
Recently, UNRWA teachers and officials were discovered praising Hamas terrorists for the October 7th atrocities in a private Telegram group.