The EU has called on international donors to resume funding to the largest UN agency in Gaza.
The decision comes after a review concluded that Israel provided no evidence for its claim that thousands of UNRWA employees were members of terrorist groups.
Several nations have suspended funding to the agency following allegations that some officials participated in Hamas attacks on Israel.
The US says it will not restore funding until UNRWA makes “real progress”.
UNRWA, which provides healthcare, education and humanitarian aid to Palestinians, employs 13,000 people in Gaza.
EU humanitarian chief Janez Lenarcic welcomed Monday’s report for “underlining the significant number of agency compliance systems in place, as well as recommendations for their further updating”.
He called on donor nations to support UNRWA, describing it as “the lifeline of Palestinian refugees”.
This was echoed by Norwegian Foreign Minister Espen Barth Eide, who welcomed Australia, Canada, Finland, Germany, Iceland, Japan and Sweden for having already resumed their funding. The US and UK have not yet done so.
“In terms of our funding to UNRWA, it is still on hold,” White House security spokesman John Kirby said Tuesday.
“We’re going to have to see real progress here before that changes.”
US State Department Deputy Spokesperson Vedant Patel said the government was closely reviewing the report, adding that “it is clear that we continue to support the important work of UNRWA, and it must continue.”
Israel has accused more than 2,135 agency employees of being members of Hamas or Palestinian Islamic Jihad – terrorist organizations banned in Israel, the UK, the US and other countries. But the independent UN review, led by the French foreign minister, said Israel had not yet provided “supporting evidence” for this claim.
While the report acknowledged UNRWA’s “robust framework”, it said more needed to be done to improve its neutrality, team vetting and transparency.
The agency insists it performs detailed reference checks on all employees and shares employee lists with Israel.
Israeli authorities suggest that the report ignores the seriousness of the problem and maintain that UNRWA has systematic links to Hamas.
The EU’s appeal came as US humanitarian envoy to Gaza, David Satterfield, repeated warnings that the risk of famine across the Palestinian territory – especially in the north – was very high.
The catastrophic situation was caused by the siege imposed by Israel after the October 7th attacks.
Satterfield said Israel needs to do everything possible to end hunger and called for more to be done to deliver aid to those in need.
So far, more than 34,000 Palestinians – most of them women and children – have been killed during Israel’s military campaign in Gaza, according to the Hamas-run Ministry of Health.
A separate UN investigation is looking into Israeli allegations that 12 UNRWA employees took part in the October 7 attacks in Israel, which resulted in the deaths of around 1,200 people and the taking of around 250 hostages.
UNRWA fired 10 of the 12 accused employees who were still alive after the accusations.
