In response to allegations that Hamas ‘ people participated in Hamas ‘ terrorist attacks against Israel, the U.S. Congress is expected to immediately ban funding for the U.N. agency that provides humanitarian assistance to Gaza.  ,
Republican and Democratic leaders are negotiating a huge saving costs to go in Congress by Friday to prevent a limited state closure this trip that includes the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees. The United States has been the largest financial follower of the company, providing it with$ 370 million in 2023 only.
The money wait the United States imposed after Israeli authorities in late January claimed that at least 12 UNRWA staff were involved in Hamas’s terrorist assault on Israel may continue until March 2025. ” Not a single taxpayer dollar should go to UNRWA after the serious allegations of its members participating in the October 7th attacks”, Sen. James Risch ( R., Idaho ) told the , New York Times.
Sen. Chris Van Hollen ( D., Md. ), but, condemned the money ban, saying Wednesday it would be “misguided” and “unconscionable” for the United States to “punish over two million innocent persons in Gaza and UNRWA participants throughout the place” because some of the company’s staff participated in the Oct. 7 harm.  ,  ,
The White House, meanwhile, emphasized the agency’s contributions in the region but acknowledged the allegations. There is no other organization in Gaza that has the reach, the tentacles, and the distribution capabilities that UNRWA has. That’s just a fact”, White House spokesman John Kirby said. ” Obviously UNRWA is going to have to reform itself, clearly, because that’s just unacceptable behavior by anybody”.
In response to Israel’s allegations, U. N. officials fired 10 of the 12 involved employees and said the other two had died, asking the United States and other nations that suspended funding to reconsider. Canada, Australia, Sweden, and Iceland have since announced they would renew their funding.  ,
The U. N. agency has faced other accusations of ties to Hamas terrorists. Last month, the Israel Defense Forces said it uncovered a Hamas data center underneath UNRWA’s Gaza City headquarters. A Wall Street Journal report in late January found 10 percent of the agency’s workforce—about 1, 200 employees—with ties to Hamas. “UNRWA’s problem is not just’ a few bad apples ‘ involved in the Oct. 7 massacre”, an Israeli official told the Journal. ” ]UNRWA ] as a whole is a haven for Hamas’s radical ideology”.
