Tom White, the director of UNRWA’s Gaza office, told Sky News that while he was “shocked” by the accusations, he cautioned that withholding funding from the organization would have “catastrophic” repercussions for the Palestinian people.
Following Israeli allegations that twelve personnel were involved in the attack, the United Kingdom and the United States are two of sixteen nations that have suspended financing to the United Nations Relief Agency (UNRWA) in Gaza.
Tom White expressed his disbelief at the charges in an interview with Yalda Hakim for The World, which resulted in the staff members being sacked right away.
latest from the Middle East as Hamas responds to the proposed ceasefire
“We are very clear with our staff and it’s in the contract they sign with UNRWA that they work as humanitarians and any sort of militant activity is totally incompatible with their work,” he stated.
“I’ve talked to a lot of our Palestinian employees in the last few days, and they are all equally astonished by what this small minority has done.
“Essentially, they’ve betrayed the organisation, they’ve betrayed their mission as humanitarians and they’ve betrayed the Palestinians themselves and compromised this vital aid operation.”
Israel made its claims after years of demanding the agency’s dissolution and amid a genocide lawsuit against it at the International Court of Justice after its attack on Gaza.
