Israel has ramped up its criticism of the embattled U.N. agency for Palestinian refugees Monday, saying 450 of its employees were members of militant groups in the Gaza Strip, though it provided no evidence to back up its accusation.
Major international funders have withheld hundreds of millions of dollars from the agency, known as UNRWA, since Israel accused 12 of its employees of participating in the Oct. 7 Hamas attacks on Israel that killed 1,200 people and left about 250 others held hostage in Gaza, according to Israeli authorities.
Philippe Lazzarini, the head of the agency known as UNRWA, told a press conference late Monday that he "has never been informed" or received any evidence of Israel's claims, and this is not the first.
Every year, he said, UNRWA provides Israel and the Palestinian Authority with a list of its staff "and I never have received the slightest concern about the staff that we have been employing."
The only allegation communicated to him verbally was about 12 UNRWA staffers alleged to have participated in the Oct. 7 attacks, he said, and they appeared so serious that they were fired, and two U.N.-ordered investigations are underway.
The U.N. envoy focusing on sexual violence in conflict, Pramila Patten, said Monday there were "reasonable grounds" to believe Hamas committed rape, "sexualized torture," and other cruel and inhuman treatment of women during the attack.
