By Veronika Eschbacher and Jörg Blank, dpa
BERLIN – The German government says it plans to resume its cooperation with the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) in the Gaza Strip in the near future.
This was announced by the German Foreign Office and the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development on Wednesday.
The decision comes after a investigation requested by the UN found no evidence to back up Israel’s allegations that a dozen UNRWA employees took part in the October 7 attacks on Israel and that the agency had been thoroughly infiltrated by the Palestinian militant group Hamas.
The independent group, headed by former French foreign minister Catherine Colonna, was set up at the beginning of February.
UNRWA is the main humanitarian aid provider in Gaza. Israel’s allegations threw the agency into a major crisis, and led 16 major donor countries – including the two largest donors, the United States and Germany – to suspend or pause funding.
That left UNRWA with a future funding gap of some $450 million. The recent report noted that the short-term financial requirements of UNRWA in Gaza are currently covered by existing funds.
The agency also dismissed several employees in the wake of the allegations, and UN Secretary General António Guterres promised a comprehensive review.
The review led by Colonna recommended a toughening up of safeguards in “eight critical areas,” but experts also noted that UNRWA had implemented a number of “robust” mechanisms to ensure that the principle of neutrality is upheld.
But the report also said Israel had failed to provide any evidence to substantiate the bombshell accusations.
The German government said it had provided UNRWA with €200 million ($214 million) in 2023. German funding for UNRWA’s operations in Gaza was suspended at the end of January, although the country in March delivered €45 million to fund UNRWA relief work in Jordan, Lebanon, Syria and the Israeli-occupied West Bank.
Wednesday’s statement from the German government went on to say that officials had closely analysed the accusations made by Israel against UNRWA and had been in close contact with the Israeli government, the United Nations and other international donors.
Germany will coordinate closely with its international partners on the disbursement of further funds, including in light of the catastrophic humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip.
According to the German government, other UNRWA donors including Australia, Canada, Sweden and Japan have also recently resumed their cooperation with the aid agency.
At the same time, Germany called for UNRWA to implement the recommendations of the Colonna report without delay.
The strengthening of UNRWA’s internal audit and its staffing with international UN personnel, improved external supervision of project management, a further continuous review of UNRWA employee lists with the Israeli security authorities and the expansion of internal training would be of particular importance, the German government said.
