The federal government wants to continue its cooperation with the controversial UN Palestinian Relief Agency (UNRWA) in the Gaza Strip. This was announced by the Foreign Office and the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development in Berlin.
The background is the recent recommendations of a report by the group set up by the United Nations headed by former French Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna. UNRWA’s short-term financial needs in Gaza are currently covered by existing funds, it said.
UNRWA hit the headlines in January after Israel claimed that 12 employees were involved in the October 7 Hamas massacre and that the organization as a whole was being infiltrated by Hamas. Some of the most important donors, including the USA and Germany, then temporarily suspended payments. In Colonna’s report, presented this week in New York, independent experts concluded that UNRWA had established a number of “robust” mechanisms to ensure respect for the principle of neutrality. However, there is room for improvement.
“By continuing the acute cooperation, we are supporting UNRWA’s vital and currently irreplaceable role in providing care for the people of Gaza, as other international aid organizations are also currently dependent on UNRWA’s operational structures in Gaza,” the statement said in addition. According to information from Berlin, Australia, Canada, Sweden and Japan recently resumed their cooperation with the aid organization.
German cooperation frozen since the end of January
German cooperation with UNRWA in the Gaza Strip has been on hold since the end of January. However, money continued to flow for the organization’s work in other regions: at the end of March, the federal government made 45 million euros available to the Palestinian relief organization for work in Jordan, Lebanon, Syria and the West Bank. According to its own information, the federal government supported the UN relief organization UNRWA with more than 200 million euros in 2023 alone.
“Intensely dealt with allegations made by Israel”
The federal government has intensively dealt with the allegations made by Israel against UNRWA and has discussed this closely with the Israeli government, the United Nations and other international donors, the statement continued. It will coordinate closely with its closest international partners to disburse further funds. In view of the catastrophic situation of the people in the Gaza Strip, there have recently been repeated calls to continue supporting the Palestinian relief organization.
At the same time, Germany demanded that the recommendations of the Colonna report must now be implemented immediately. Particular importance would be attached here to strengthening the UNRWA internal audit and staffing it with international UN staff, improved external supervision of project management, further continuous comparison of the UNRWA employee lists with the Israeli security authorities and the expansion of internal training.
