French diplomat to review UNRWA after claims of staff role in Hamas attack
A former French foreign minister, Catherine Colonna, is to lead an independent review of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees after accusations by Israel that at least 12 staff members were involved in the Hamas attack on Israel on 7 October.
The review was ordered by Philippe Lazzarini, the head of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA), last month before the publication of the Israeli allegations and a subsequent mass exodus of donors led by the US and UK.
The UN agency is as a result facing a big funding shortfall at a time of growing humanitarian emergency in Gaza. On Monday Spain said it would give an additional €3.5m (£3m) in aid.
Colonna, a former French ambassador to the UK and a hugely experienced diplomat, will be aided in her investigation by three Scandinavian development thinktanks: the Raoul Wallenberg Institute in Sweden, the Chr Michelsens Institute in Norway and the Danish Institute for Human Rights.
Colonna has worked across the French political spectrum and is likely to be the kind of figure who can produce an authoritative report with recommendations that can restore confidence in the organisation.
The Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, claimed last week that the UN agency had been “totally infiltrated” by Hamas, which has ruled Gaza since 2007.
An interim report will be published in late March 2024 and a final report by the end of April 2024.
Its broad terms of reference focus on how to protect the organisation’s neutrality, its recruitment of staff and its response to allegations of misconduct. The report will be made public.
Related: What is UNRWA and how dependent on western funding is its work in Gaza?
UNRWA has 40,0000 staff including 13,000 in Gaza and recruits from a labour force that has elements hostile to Israel. It also requires a working relationship with Hamas, the de facto authority in Gaza, in order to deliver aid and schools to the territory.
Israel claims as many as 10% of staff are Hamas supporters, and wants the organisation to be disbanded.
Lazzarini is visiting three Gulf states this week to drum up support after donors suspended funding and has warned the agency might be forced to shut down its operations by the end of February if funding does not resume.
The UK development minister, Andrew Mitchell, said in a statement to MPs that the UK was pausing funding rather than cutting it, saw no alternative to UNRWA to deliver aid, and rejected claims it was responsible for publishing antisemitic textbooks. The UK’s next funding payment is not due until spring.
UNRWA itself sacked the 12 staff members identified by Israel as being involved in the 7 October attack and Lazzarini had announced the independent review in the middle of last month before the Israeli allegations were published. Separately, the UN’s internal review into Israel’s specific allegations is being conducted in parallel by the UN office of internal oversight services.
Privately, there is disappointment inside UNRWA that at a time of acute need in Gaza, so many donors responded to Israel’s allegations without waiting to see if they were proved to be true.
At a press conference in Poland, the EU foreign affairs chief, Josep Borrell, went as far as he could to support UNRWA, saying: “The European Union has not suspended its funding to UNRWA, just asked for a control – an audit. I am sure the United Nations will launch it in a completely independent and professional manner in order to understand better the way UNRWA works.
“But keep in mind that more than 2 million people are being fed every day by UNRWA. And it is not only about Gaza, it is about Jordan, it is about Syria, it is about Lebanon.
“It is a matter of humanity and for the European Union values, this also matters.”
