The U.N. aid agency serving Palestinians in Gaza faced more funding cuts Monday amid accusations that 12 of its employees were involved in the Oct. 7 attack that sparked the Israel-Hamas war.
An Israeli document obtained by media on Monday details Israeli claims that U.N. teachers and a social worker employed by the agency, known as UNRWA, allegedly stormed into Israel that day, in some cases helping to take hostages or coordinating weapons’ transfers.
The allegations over the weekend triggered a wave of funding cuts by major donors, including the U.S., Britain and France. Austria said Monday that it would suspend its financial assistance.
UNRWA employs roughly 13,000 Palestinians in Gaza and says it will be forced to halt operations within weeks if funding isn’t restored. The war has led to a humanitarian catastrophe that has displaced the vast majority of the embattled enclave’s population and caused widespread hunger.
Hamas’ attack on Oct. 7 killed 1,200 people, mostly civilians. About 250 people were taken captive, according to Israeli authorities.
It set off a brutal air, sea and ground offensive by Israel’s military that has killed more than 26,000 Palestinians, most of them women and minors, according to the Hamas-run Health Ministry in Gaza. It has also threatened to set off a wider regional conflict.
Currently:
— Biden says US ‘shall respond’ after drone strike by Iran-backed group kills 3 US troops in Jordan
— Israel notes ‘significant gaps’ after cease-fire talks with US, Qatar, Egypt but says constructive
— Israel’s president says the UN world court misrepresented his comments in its genocide ruling
— What is UNRWA, the main aid provider in Gaza that Israel accuses of militant links?
— Find more of news agencies’s coverage at https://apnews.com/hub/israel-hamas-war.
Here’s the latest:
BERLIN — Germany has condemned the fatal attack on U.S. troops in Jordan that Washington has blamed on Iran-backed militias and is calling on Tehran to exert its influence on regional allies to prevent further escalation.
Foreign Ministry spokesperson Sebastian Fischer on Monday underlined Berlin’s solidarity with Jordan and the U.S.
He added that “in view of the extremely tense situation in the region, this act is completely irresponsible and could lead to pushing the region further toward escalation.”
Fischer said: “We expect from Iran that it finally exert its influence on its allies in the region so that there is no uncontrolled conflagration, in which no one can have an interest.
RAMALLAH, West Bank — Palestinian authorities say five Palestinians, including a 16-year old boy, have been killed by Israeli forces in separate shootings across the occupied West Bank on Monday.
The Palestinian Health Ministry said the boy was killed near the Israeli settlement of Tekoa. The ministry gave no further details, but the Israeli military said the boy had attempted to carry out a stabbing attack on soldiers at a guard post.
In other violence, the Palestinian Health Ministry said two men, one of them age 18, were shot dead by Israeli troops in the southern West Bank city of Dura. The official Palestinian news agency Wafa said that Israeli forces opened fire after clashing with Palestinians from the area.