Congress wants to block funding for the UN agency for Palestinians
The United States would cut funding to the main U.N. agency that provides aid to Palestinians in Gaza under a spending deal that will soon become law, two people familiar with the plan said.
The ban, part of a massive spending bill negotiated by lawmakers and the White House that Congress is expected to release this weekend, would create a deficit of hundreds of millions of dollars for the organization known as UNRWA. That could have disastrous consequences for Gazans, who are facing an acute hunger crisis and displacement in crowded shelters and tent camps.
The move would also put Washington at odds with its Western allies over how to respond to the humanitarian crisis in Gaza, amid allegations that Hamas fighters have infiltrated the agency.
The suspension is scheduled until March 2025 and extends a funding pause that the White House and lawmakers from both major US parties supported after Israel in January accused at least 12 UNRWA employees of participating in the October 7 attack on southern Israel led by Hamas . Efforts are underway to impose a longer-term financing ban, according to people familiar with the negotiations.
“Not a single tax dollar should go to UNRWA following the serious allegations of its members participating in the October 7 attacks,” Senator James Risch of Idaho, the top Republican on the Foreign Affairs Committee, said in a statement to The New York Times.
The U.S. plan has left some of America’s closest allies struggling to secure funding for the agency.
The loss of U.S. support would hamper the agency’s ability to provide food and health care services in Gaza. The United States has paid most of the agency’s total budget, including $370 million by 2023. According to Scott Anderson, the agency’s deputy director for Gaza, UNRWA had enough money earlier this month to continue its activities until the end of May to put. .
UNRWA Commissioner General Philppe Lazzarini said he feared that US efforts to suspend funding would have a drastic impact on the services of agencies in Gaza, particularly in the field of education. “I really hope that the US will continue to show its solidarity,” he said.
The White House appeared hopeful about the possibility of eventually restoring funding to UNRWA, which supports Palestinian refugees in the Middle East, once the organization completes its investigation and takes steps toward reform.
“There is no other organization that has the reach, tentacles and distribution capabilities that UNRWA has in Gaza. That’s just a fact,” said John F. Kirby, the spokesperson for the White House National Security Council.
“It is clear that UNRWA will have to reform itself because that is simply unacceptable behavior for anyone,” he added.
U.N. officials said they had fired at least nine of the original 12 employees accused of taking part in the Oct. 7 attack or its aftermath, and that two others were dead. António Guterres, the UN secretary general, who described himself as “shocked by these allegations”, ordered an investigation into the organization and has called on countries that have suspended aid payments to reconsider.
In the past two weeks, Canada, Sweden, Denmark, Iceland and Australia, which suspended funding for UNRWA after Israel’s accusations were made public in January, said they would renew funding. A host of other countries, including Germany, UNRWA’s second-largest backer, are expected to make similar announcements in the coming months, according to five European diplomats, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the news media. to communicate.
On Wednesday, a Saudi Arabia-funded humanitarian agency pledged to increase the agency’s funding by $40 million, according to a statement.
“We welcome donor countries’ decisions to restore funding, but we are not out of the woods yet,” said Juliette Touma, UNRWA communications director.
But as U.S. allies look for ways to fund and possibly reform the agency — such as stepping up enforcement of rules requiring workers to maintain their neutrality — Washington is looking for other alternatives.
However, humanitarian officials have questioned whether other U.N. agencies or smaller aid organizations are capable of distributing large amounts of aid as the war between Israel and Hamas rages.
Israeli officials recently met in Washington with members of Congress and the Biden administration and shared new evidence that UNRWA employees had “deep ties” to militant groups in Gaza, according to an Israeli official with knowledge of the matter, who reviewed the evidence called “irrefutable”. ”
Previously, he said, Israeli officials shared material with visiting investigators from the UN Office of Internal Oversight, who are conducting an investigation into whether UNRWA employees have ties to Hamas. He said Israel is committed to ensuring the continued flow of aid to Gaza, but not through UNRWA.
Earlier in the war, food aid distribution was mainly overseen by UNRWA. But recently, a patchwork of aid agencies, convoys of local businessmen and airdrops from foreign governments have become involved in delivering much-needed food.
The spread, especially in northern Gaza, has been slowed by lawlessness, violence and Israel’s denial of entry to convoys.
At least twice in recent weeks, attempts to distribute food ended in bloodshed, with hungry Palestinians seeking help killed. In the deadliest event, more than 100 people were killed in Gaza City on February 29, according to local health authorities, who attributed the deaths to Israeli forces firing into the crowd. The Israeli army acknowledged opening fire but said most of the deaths occurred when people stampeded or were run over by trucks.
On Monday, the UN-backed organization that monitors food insecurity warned that “famine is imminent” in Gaza.
Both Republicans and Democrats have proposed the World Food Program alternatively, according to UNRWA supporters who recently visited Congress and spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss their private meetings.
But the World Food Program (WFP) has fewer than 100 staff in Gaza compared to the 13,000 on UNRWA’s payroll, 3,000 of whom continued to work during the war.
Israel, along with other organizations, has also engaged with the WFP about playing a larger role in Gaza, according to the Israeli official who reviewed the recent meetings in Washington and who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the deliberations.
But moving workers from one organization to another would be complicated, said Mr. McGoldrick, the U.N. coordinator. WFP workers in Gaza, for example, are generally paid about three times as much as their UNRWA counterparts, he said.
As Washington looks for alternatives to UNRWA, other countries have decided to restore their funding, based on reassurances the organization has given about improving its employee vetting process and enforcement of ethics rules.
According to UNRWA officials and European diplomats, these donor countries are seeking additional information from the UN office overseeing the investigation into Israel’s allegations, as well as the results of an independent investigation being conducted by Catherine Colonna, a former French Foreign Minister. Ms Colonna is expected to issue an interim update on Wednesday and her final report on April 20.
Many European countries are keen to see UNRWA take the investigation seriously, one of the European diplomats said, adding that evidence of “credible efforts” at reform was important. “The general feeling is that things are going quite well,” the diplomat said.
Hugh Lovatt, a senior fellow at the European Council on Foreign Relations, said the push in European capitals to restore funding was an acknowledgment that Europe had “overreacted” when confronted with the allegations against UNRWA.
Nevertheless, the European Union has said that future funding for UNRWA is conditional on the agency allowing EU-appointed experts to audit the organization; expanding the staff of the internal research and ethics departments; and having employees sign conflict of interest declarations, according to written correspondence between UNRWA Commissioner General Mr Lazzarini and Oliver Varhelyi, a senior EU official.
According to correspondence between Mr Lazzarini and Mr Vahelyi, UNRWA also agreed to hand over a list of its employees to the Israeli authorities every three months, including their Palestinian ID numbers; to confirm that financial institutions have vetted their staff against a list of people subject to EU sanctions; and to allow a third party to monitor employee compliance with training on humanitarian principles and neutrality.
Israeli officials had previously complained that UNRWA had handed over its employee lists only once a year, without their national ID numbers. Access to the ID numbers would likely make it easier for Israel to check its databases for specific UNRWA employees with criminal histories, diplomats said.
Johnatan Reiss reporting contributed.