Israel’s responsibility to protect civilians is upheld by a military operation in Rafah: UNRWA and the U.N

Linda Thomas-Greenfield said that an Israeli military operation in the southern Gaza city of Rafah would violate Israel’s obligation to keep civilians safe.

On Saturday, the Israeli military said it found a network of Hamas tunnels under the agency’s Gaza headquarters. The commissioner general of UNRWA, Philippe Lazzarini, said the agency was unaware of what was underneath the building and that the allegations “merit an independent inquiry.”

Kelemen: On the U.N. agency that aids Palestinians, UNRWA, is the U.S. satisfied with the steps UNRWA is taking to investigate allegations that some of its staffers actually took part in the Hamas attack on Oct. 7? And will the U.S. make sure that UNRWA doesn’t run out of money?

Thomas-Greenfield: I am hearing those concerns every single day. And what we have tried to do is keep our colleagues briefed on what is happening on the ground so that we don’t take actions in the Security Council that might jeopardize the very sensitive negotiations that are taking place that we hope will lead to an extensive pause in the fighting, lead to the hostages returning to their families, and allow for humanitarian assistance to get in to Palestinians who are in desperate need.

But we are continuing to work with the U.N. in their effort to investigate. I know that the U.N. office of investigations are engaged in an investigation right now of those who were involved in the attack. Three Nordic NGOs are going to be working with a former French Foreign Minister on addressing some of the reforms and UNRWA’s neutrality moving forward.

I’ve heard that other people followed our lead, but they were able to make their own decisions, since they saw the situation on the ground. A number of countries have not cut off funding yet, and we obligated a large amount of funding to UNRWA already for their 2024 program. We’re going to wait and see what the assessments show, then we’ll make a decision on how to move forward.

She added: “UNWRA is the only international organization with the capacity, with the infrastructure to provide that assistance. So whether it’s through funding from U.S. or other countries, we want to make sure that assistance goes into the people of Gaza.