Beijing, March 5 (Xinhua) -- The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) on March 4 accused Israel of "extorting confessions by torture" against its employees in an attempt to bring down the agency that provides humanitarian assistance in the Gaza Strip. On the same day, the Israeli side claimed that more than 400 UNRWA employees were members of Palestinian armed groups.
Workers spray disinfectant at a makeshift refugee camp in the southern Gaza Strip city of Khan Younis on November 12, 2023. Xinhua News Agency (Photo by Rizek Abduljawad).
UNRWA issued a statement on the 4th, designating the Israeli side to arrest its employees and forcing them to admit to participating in the Palestinian Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) attack on Israel. The employees described being subjected to "cruel" treatment, including "torture" and "sexual exploitation," the statement said. The Israeli coerced confession was aimed at "further disseminating false information about UNRWA" in an attempt to "bring down" the United Nations aid agency.
UNRWA employs approximately 30,000 people in Palestine, Lebanon, Jordan and Syria, including about 1 in the Gaza StripWith 30,000 people, it is the largest aid provider in the region, providing education, medical and other social services.
Israeli military spokesman Daniel Hajari said on the 4th that "more than 450" UNRWA employees were "armed members of terrorist organizations in the Gaza Strip", but did not release the names and evidence of the above-mentioned personnel.
People inspect trucks attacked by Israeli forces in the central Gaza Strip city of Deir al-Ballah on March 3. Xinhua News Agency (photo by Yasser Cudi).
In January this year, Israel designated 12 UNRWA employees for involvement in a large-scale Hamas attack on military and civilian targets in Israel on 7 October last year. More than a dozen countries, including the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom, subsequently announced the cessation of funding to UNRWA, totaling about 4$500 million, or nearly half of the latter's annual budget.
The Commissioner-General of UNRWA, Philip Lazzarini, said at the UN General Assembly on the 4th that UNRWA is the "backbone" of humanitarian assistance in Gaza, but at present, "life hangs by a thread"; If eventually forced to close, "an entire generation of children will fall victim and the seeds of hatred and conflict will be sown".
Lazzarini said at a news conference on the same day that UNRWA provides the Israeli side with a list of the employees of this agency every year, and the Israeli side "has never expressed any concern about the personnel we employ," and that the Israeli side did not notify him and provide any evidence before issuing the latest designation on 4 July.
In response to the designation issued by the Israeli side in January, the United Nations is conducting an independent and internal investigation and the 12 employees have been dismissed. The European Commission said on the 1st of this month that UNRWA had agreed to accept "a series of conditions" such as an audit, and that the EU would resume funding the agency.
Palestinians line up to receive relief food in the southern Gaza Strip city of Rafah on 9 February. Xinhua News Agency (Photo by Rizek Abduljawad).
Lazzarini also disclosed at a press conference on the 4th that according to internal reports from the United Nations, Israel has abused Palestinians in custody, not allowing them to sleep, intimidating them with dogs, forcing them to shoot **, and even threatening to electrocut.
The Israeli army denied that there was "widespread" treatment of Palestinian personnel in detention facilities, saying that Hamas had carried out a large number of sexual violence during its attacks on Israel.
The United Nations released a report on the 4th, saying that there are "reasonable grounds to believe" that Hamas committed sexual violence against Israeli personnel during its attack on Israel last year and afterward.
Israel's permanent representative to the United Nations, Gilad Edan, accused the United Nations of "taking five months to finally admit" Hamas's sexual violence against Israeli personnel in the raid. Israel's Prime Minister Islam El Katz called UN Secretary-General António Guterres "suppressing" the release of the report, announcing that he had ordered Edan's return to China for urgent consultations.
Agence France-Presse, citing UN Secretary-General spokesperson Stefana Djarric, reported that Guterres did not prevent the release of the report in any way. (Hui Xiaoshuang).