After the temporary termination of payments to the UN Palestinian relief agency UNRWA because of the alleged involvement of some of its employees in the Hamas massacre in Israel, the head of the organization has warned of an end to aid in Gaza.
“Our humanitarian operation, on which two million people depend as a lifeline in Gaza, is collapsing,” wrote Philippe Lazzarini on the online platform X (formerly Twitter). He said he was shocked that such decisions were made based on the alleged behavior of a few people. “The Palestinians in Gaza did not need additional collective punishment,” the Swiss continued.
Employees possibly involved in attack
According to UNRWA, as of Saturday, nine countries had temporarily stopped their payments to the organization in the Gaza Strip. According to its own information, the aid organization operates accommodation for more than a million people and provides food and basic medical care. Important donors such as the USA, Great Britain and Germany decided to take the step because twelve of the organization’s several thousand employees in the Gaza Strip were said to have been involved in the bloodbath on October 7th. They were immediately released.
Lazzarini had said that Israel had provided the aid organization with information that several employees were involved in the bloodbath. He and UN Secretary-General António Guterres were horrified and threatened those affected with criminal consequences if their suspicions were confirmed. The UN initially did not say how the employees might have been involved in the Hamas attack in Israel.
