UN aid agency serving Palestinians in Gaza faces more funding cuts amid Oct 7 claims
World
UN aid agency serving Palestinians in Gaza faces more funding cuts amid Oct 7 claims
NEW YORK (AP) - 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 The Associated Press 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.
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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.
