The United Nations company tasked with aiding refugees within the Gaza Strip doesn’t perform exhaustive background checks of its workers, nevertheless it delivers an inventory of its 1000’s of workers members within the enclave to Israeli authorities yearly, present and former officers within the group stated on Monday.
The company, often called UNRWA, was thrust right into a disaster over the weekend, after Israel on Friday accused 12 of the group’s workers of collaborating within the Hamas-led assaults on Oct. 7 or their aftermath. A number of donor international locations, together with the USA, have briefly suspended funding to the reduction group, elevating considerations that entry to desperately wanted support in Gaza can be reduce.
Juliette Touma, the director of communications for UNRWA, stated the company wasn’t outfitted to hold out in depth background checks of candidates, however she emphasised it performs reference checks and investigates considerations raised about particular person staffers.
“We’re a humanitarian group, not a authorities,” she stated in an interview, noting that the Israeli authorities had not objected to its newest record of workers. The company employs about 13,000 folks in Gaza.
Lior Haiat, spokesman for Israel’s Ministry of Overseas Affairs, confirmed UNRWA shares lists of staff with Israeli officers, however stated they embrace minimal data and referred to workers as of many months earlier. Mr. Haiat argued that it was UNRWA’s — not Israel’s — accountability to display workers.
UNRWA, the most important support group in Gaza, introduced on Friday that it might hearth the workers accused of collaborating within the assaults. (On Sunday, the U.N. secretary common stated 9 of the workers had been dismissed, and the help company stated two have been lifeless.) UNRWA stated that the U.N.’s highest investigative physique had began inspecting the allegations.
Matthias Schmale, the director of UNRWA operations in Gaza from 2017 to 2021, stated workers signal a pledge to stay impartial, and so they take part in recurring workshops that encourage refraining from partaking in political exercise or violence.
“I believe we did the perfect we are able to in very tense political circumstances and with restricted sources,” he stated, including that the crew devoted to imposing neutrality in Gaza was halved throughout his tenure due to the Trump administration’s funding cuts. Tamara Alrifai, one other UNRWA spokeswoman, stated that after President Biden restored funding to the company, a few of these positions have been introduced again.
Nonetheless, Mr. Schmale stated, those that violated the group’s insurance policies confronted swift penalties. Eight workers, he stated, have been dismissed below his look ahead to neutrality violations, their use of social media and bodily abuse. One worker, he stated, was found to be a member of Hamas’s army wing after UNRWA workers found photographs proving their membership within the militant group.
Mr. Schmale himself has been caught in controversy. In 2021, Hamas accused him of constructing remarks that minimized the toll of Israeli strikes throughout a quick conflict in Gaza that yr, and amid protests he was reassigned by UNRWA. He later walked again the feedback and expressed regret over them.
He stated on Monday that the “finest deterrent” to neutrality violations was self-discipline, noting Palestinians in Gaza wish to maintain their jobs with the U.N., particularly due to extreme unemployment within the territory. The tiny enclave, the place greater than two million folks stay, had a virtually 50 % unemployment fee earlier than the conflict.