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Photo: A Palestinian woman and children check the rubble of a building hit overnight by an Israeli bombardment in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip on 20 April 2024 -. Arab News
This opinion piece originally appeared on Joop - BNNVARA
Between October 2023 and February 2024, the war in Gaza included more children killed than in conflicts around the world during the previous four years. Moreover, a UN report expects a famine to break out in Gaza. The International Court of Justice has therefore instructed Israel to "take immediate and effective measures to enable the delivery of urgently needed basic supplies and humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip." But instead of an increase, we see a shocking decrease - according to the United Nations as much as 30% - of aid reaching Gaza.
An indispensable organisation
The United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), the largest Palestinian relief agency, plays a crucial role in providing humanitarian aid to Palestinians. UNRWA was established in 1949 to help Palestinians and Jews forcibly displaced by the war and violence that followed the establishment of the state of Israel in 1948. In 1952, Israel assumed responsibility for providing aid to approximately 17.000 Jews who had been forcibly displaced. Over 700,000 displaced Palestinians and their descendants remained under UNRWA's mandate.
Currently, about 5.9 million people are eligible for the services of UNRWA, which operates in Gaza, the West Bank, East Jerusalem, Jordan, Syria and Lebanon. The organisation plays an important role in housing and education for Palestinian refugees and has over 30,000 employees. What was originally intended as a temporary humanitarian programme has grown into an immense service provider that would be very complex - if not impossible - both politically and logistically to replace, above all in the middle of a conflict with urgent humanitarian needs. Aid from other aid agencies also runs entirely alongside UNRWA: "Without UNRWA, we too cannot do our work," Save the Children director Pim Kraan said in the NOS News. "The only organisation that can deliver large-scale aid is UNRWA," says also MP Kati Piri.
UNRWA under fire
But UNRWA is in dire financial straits. The decline in humanitarian aid reaching Gaza is partly due to allegations against 12 UNRWA employees. Israel alleges that these staff have links to Hamas and were involved in the October 7th attacks. No substantial evidence has been provided for the allegations, as highlighted by the EU humanitarian aid chief on March 14th. Indeed, UNRWA findings suggest that the Israeli army forced 21 UNRWA employees to make false confessions about alleged links to Hamas. They were allegedly subjected to torture techniques including severe physical beatings, waterboarding and threats against family members. Similar torture was previously observed by CNN and Al Jazeera. UNRWA spokeswoman Juliette Touma called it "part of efforts to dismantle UNRWA."
Despite this, 18 countries, including the Netherlands, took the reckless decision to suspend funding to UNRWA, leaving UNRWA with almost half its budget, about $450 million, lost. The United States, UNRWA's largest donor, even reached an agreement to ban funds to UNRWA until March 2025. In contrast, Spain has given additional funds, because ceasing financial support would "put hundreds of thousands of lives at risk".
Israel's campaign against UNRWA
Attempts to dismantle UNRWA are not new. Already during a weekly meeting of his cabinet in 2017, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu claimed in public remarks that UNRWA perpetuates rather than solves the Palestinian refugee problem, and that it fuels anti-Israel sentiments. He was of the opinion that UNRWA should be dismantled.
The Israeli government has taken further steps to obstructUNRWA, including blocking shipping containers at the Israeli port of Ashdod destined for UNRWA in Gaza and containing enough flour for 1.1 million people for five months. They have also withdrawntax exemptions from UNRWA, attempted to closeUNRWA offices in occupied East Jerusalem, and have limitedvisas for international UNRWA staff. With this information in mind, the unsubstantiated allegations from Israel against UNRWA are at the very least careless and, in a worse case, willful.
Better late than never
From the 22 April final report of the independent investigation into allegations about UNRWA staff, led by former French foreign minister Catherine Colonna, it turns out that Israel still has not provided any evidence for its claims.
If the Netherlands now continues to rely on false confessions of staff, obtained under torture, it violates our credibility as a champion of humanitarian principles. Last week, Minister Liesje Schreinemacher returned to her post for Foreign Trade and Development Cooperation. The very first on her to-do list as she resumes her ministry, must be to resume support to UNRWA and fulfil international obligations. Children in Gaza cannot wait a day - not an hour - longer.
