Agencies including Oxfam and Save the Children note Gaza population already facing famine due to Israeli siege and bombardment

International aid agencies have said they are “deeply concerned and outraged” at the “reckless” decision by major donors to cut funding to a UN Palestinian aid agency after Israel accused some of its workers of taking part in Hamas’ 7 October attack.

“We are shocked by the reckless decision to cut a lifeline for an entire population by some of the very countries that had called for aid in Gaza to be stepped up and for humanitarians to be protected while doing their job,” the coalition of 21 agencies, including Oxfam, Save the Children and ActionAid, said in a statement on Monday.

More than 10 western countries including the US, UK and Germany said they would suspend funding to UNRWA, which provides aid to more than 5.6 million Palestinian refugees across the Middle East, after the agency said it had launched a probe into 12 staff members who allegedly took part in abductions and killings on 7 October.

The agency has sacked nine of those accused. Two others are missing and one is dead. The UN in New York has also launched a high-level investigation into the alleged acts, which its secretary general, António Guterres, described as “abhorrent”.

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    • NoneOfUrBusiness@kbin.social
      41·
      11 months ago

      It is when you’re supporting the conditions that make foreign aid necessary. The US, UK and Germany are a massive part of the problem of the blockade (currently full-blown siege) that’s causing Gazans to be unable to fend for themselves and therefore need foreign aid. Aid is the least they can do so the people they’re complicit in oppressing don’t starve to death.

      • Rapidcreek@lemmy.worldEnglish
        1023·
        11 months ago

        Like aiding and participating in terrorist activities? Each of these countries have intelligence operations that have concured that is the case.

        • Eldritch@lemmy.worldEnglish
          4·
          11 months ago

          Hey Israel still aidd and participates in terrorist activities and we still give them money. Let’s at least not have double standards.

          • Rapidcreek@lemmy.worldEnglish
            04·
            11 months ago

            Are we going to play whatabout now? Germany is the largest contributor to UNRWA. They don’t provide aid to Isreal and they stopped funding yesterday

            • Eldritch@lemmy.worldEnglish
              3·
              11 months ago

              100%. If Germany isn’t funding Israel, maybe we shouldn’t fund Israel either. Just putting that out there. Consistency is key.

              • Rapidcreek@lemmy.worldEnglish
                04·
                11 months ago

                Each country makes their own decisions. I’m not a congressman and have no opinion that counts regarding foreign aid. However, I’d hate to see my tax dollars go to people who have a side gig in a terrorist organization

        • NoIWontPickaName@kbin.social
          174·
          11 months ago

          Are you talking about the supposed 12 people?

          The less then .1 % of the organization?

          Or are you on about something else?

          Because my comment said people deserve human decency and I can not figure out your point.

          • Rapidcreek@lemmy.worldEnglish
            319·
            11 months ago

            There are more than 12 people under investigation as I understand it. However big the problem is, it is big enough for countries to decide to defund.

            • NoIWontPickaName@kbin.social
              71·
              11 months ago

              12 is the main number I have heard repeated over and over.

              9 captured, 1 dead, 2 missing

              Do you have more information than that or are you judging the entire organization by less than a tenth of a percent?

              • Rapidcreek@lemmy.worldEnglish
                25·
                11 months ago

                The Wall Street Journal said Monday that intel Jerusalem shared with the US indicated that of the roughly 12,000 Gazan employees of the United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees, some 1,200 have ties to either Hamas or the Palestinian Islamic Jihad.

                This kind of info is not copied by various intelligence agencies. What they do is use available sources of their own for verification. They write their own report, along with a degree of confidence factor and send it uphill. It is this info that various countries used to determine to stop funding.

                • NoIWontPickaName@kbin.social
                  42·
                  11 months ago

                  Ties to could be as simple as having family which does.

                  Not even slightly surprising given the political climate.

                  It would be like me judging you for your cousin being a low level proud boys member.

                  Always consider the wording and the source.

                  The information is coming from the IDF of all damn people.

                  Remember those 40 decapitated babies?

                  How about those people whose name was on that list on the wall that was actually days of the week.

                  I have 0 doubt that some people involved have affiliation with Hamas, just like I have no doubt that oil money is running America, and that the cartels have people in border control.

                  • Rapidcreek@lemmy.worldEnglish
                    23·
                    11 months ago

                    I’m pretty sure when you’re an employee of the UN, you sign a contract saying you have no ties to terrorist organizations.

                  • breakfastmtn@lemmy.caOPEnglish
                    01·
                    11 months ago

                    It’s not association. They’re claiming about 10% of their staff are actually members of Hamas:

                    The Israeli military provided the United States with a dossier alleging that roughly 10 percent of the agency’s 13,000 employees in Gaza are Hamas members. That assessment is derived from cross-referencing an UNRWA staff list with a directory of Hamas members that soldiers found on a computer during a recent operation inside Gaza, according to the military officials.

                    Also, the 40 decapitated babies claim is a long-debunked myth and a claim never made by either the Israeli government or the IDF. It began and spread on social media.

                    The unsupported claim about dozens of child beheadings gained traction after live news reports from Nicole Zedeck, a correspondent for Israel-based i24NEWS, who was reporting from the scene of an attack near the Israel-Gaza border. In videos the news service posted to X on Oct. 10, Zedeck said Israeli soldiers told her what they witnessed.

                    In one clip, she said “about 40 babies at least,” who were dead, according to a commander, “were taken out on gurneys.” In another clip, she said babies had “their heads cut off, they said” – but she never mentioned a number.

                    The claim about “40 babies beheaded” appears to be a combination of those two separate details that Zedeck relayed during the live broadcasts. She did not make that claim herself, as the social media video wrongly asserts.

                    In fact, CNN reported on Oct. 12 that an unnamed Israeli official told the news outlet that the Israeli government had not confirmed claims, including from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s spokesperson, that babies were beheaded.

                    That babies were found beheaded was later confirmed by pathologists:

                    An international group of forensic pathologists also have confirmed babies were found decapitated, though it’s unclear if that happened before or after death.