Review of UN agency helping Palestinian refugees found Israel did not express concerns about staff

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — An independent review of the neutrality of the U.N. agency that helps Palestinian refugees found that Israel has never expressed concern about anyone on the lists of personnel it receives annually since 2011. The review was carried out after Israel alleged that a dozen employees of the agency known as UNRWA participated in Hamas attacks on October 7.

In a wide-ranging 48-page report released on Monday, the independent panel said UNRWA has “robust” procedures to uphold the UN principle of neutrality, but cited serious gaps in implementation, including staff publicly expressing political views, textbooks with “problematic content” and employee unions halting operations.

From 2017 to 2022, the report states that the annual number of allegations of neutrality violations at UNRWA ranged from 7 to 55. But between January 2022 and February 2024, UN investigators received 151 allegations, most related to publications in social networks “made public by external sources”. “, he said.

In a key section on staff neutrality, the panel, led by former French Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna, said that UNRWA shares staff lists with host countries for its 32,000 staff, including around 13,000 in Gaza. But she said Israeli authorities never expressed concern and informed panel members that they did not consider the list “a screening or verification process” but rather a procedure for registering diplomats.

The Israeli Foreign Ministry informed the panel that until March 2024 employee lists did not include Palestinian identification numbers, the report said.

Apparently based on these figures, “Israel has made public statements that a significant number of UNRWA employees are members of terrorist organizations,” the panel said. “However, Israel has not yet provided evidence of this.”

UN Secretary-General António Guterres ordered the UN’s internal watchdog, the Office of Internal Oversight Services, to conduct a separate investigation into Israeli allegations that 12 UNRWA employees participated in the October 7 attacks. This report is eagerly awaited.

In its interim report of 20 March, the panel noted UNRWA’s “significant number of mechanisms and procedures to ensure compliance with the humanitarian principles of neutrality”, but also identified “critical areas that need to be addressed”.