UN special rapporteur on Palestine slams countries that suspended funding for UN agency because of Israeli allegations

By Zehra Nur Duz

The UN special rapporteur on Palestine decried countries Saturday that announced a suspension of funding to a UN agency that provides humanitarian aid to Palestinians following allegations of involvement by employees in the Oct. 7 attacks on Israel.

“The day after International Criminal Court (ICJ) concluded that Israel is plausibly committing Genocide in Gaza, some states decided to defund UN Agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA,) collectively punishing millions of Palestinians at the most critical time, and most likely violating their obligations under the Genocide Convention,” Francesca Albanese wrote on X.

The US, UK, Italy, Australia, Canada, Finland, and Netherlands decided to suspend funding to UNRWA following the claims.

After the allegations by Israel, UNRWA said Friday that it had terminated contracts with several staffers for their alleged involvement in the attack.

Norway welcomed investigations of some staffers but said it would continue to support Palestinians via UNRWA.

Ireland also announced earlier that it would not suspend funding to the UN agency.

Despite a provisional ruling Friday by the ICJ that ordered Tel Aviv to prevent acts of genocide in Gaza, Israel continued its onslaught against the coastal enclave where at least 26,257 Palestinians have been killed, mostly women and children, and 64,797 injured since Oct. 7, according to Palestinian health authorities.

The Israeli offensive has left 85% of Gaza’s population internally displaced amid acute shortages of food, clean water and medicine, while 60% of the enclave’s infrastructure was damaged or destroyed, according to the UN.