Jerusalem:

The United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees said Friday it has fired several staff accused by Israel of involvement in Hamas’ October 7 attack, prompting the United States to suspend vital funding.

The agency’s head, Philippe Lazzarini, vowed to hold “accountable, including through criminal prosecution”, any UNRWA staff participating in terrorist acts.

In response to the shootings, UN chief Antonio Guterres promised to conduct an “immediate and comprehensive independent review of UNRWA”, said his spokesman Stephane Dujarric.

The US State Department said it has “temporarily paused additional funding” to the agency while it reviews the claims as well as a UN plan to address the concerns.

It said up to twelve employees could be involved.

Israel’s Foreign Ministry said Friday that it is “looking forward to an immediate investigation of UNRWA over the involvement of its staff in the October 7 terrorist attack.”

Israel’s ambassador to the United Nations, Gilad Erdan, said the dismissals vindicate long-standing claims that “UNRWA staff are collaborators with the terrorist organization Hamas”.

Relations between Israel and UNRWA deteriorated further in recent days, when the UN agency said tank shelling targeted a shelter for displaced people in Khan Yunis, Gaza’s main southern city.

The agency said thousands of displaced people were registered at shelters and that 13 people were killed in tank shelling on Wednesday.

Asked about the incident, the Israeli military said, “A thorough review of the operations of forces in the surrounding area is underway”, adding that it was investigating the possibility that the attack was “the result of Hamas fire”. .

Lazzarini described Wednesday’s bombing as a “gross disregard for the basic rules of war”, saying the compound was clearly marked as a UN facility and its coordinates were shared with Israeli authorities.

The Israeli army is the only army known to operate tanks in the Gaza Strip.

A UNRWA spokesperson confirmed the testimony of displaced people in shelters, who said the military had given them until 5:00 pm (1500 GMT) on Friday to escape.

AFP could not confirm the situation at the shelter on Friday.

– funding crisis –

UNRWA has struggled to meet funding needs in recent years.

The agency’s long-term budget shortfall worsened dramatically in 2018 when former US President Donald Trump cut support to the agency.

A year after Israel’s creation, the Trump administration denounced UNRWA as “irreparably flawed”, with Israeli criticisms of the agency established in 1949.

But the administration of US President Joe Biden has fully restored support, providing $340 million in 2022, making it the agency’s largest donor.

The unprecedented Hamas attack on October 7 resulted in the deaths of about 1,140 people in Israel, the majority of whom were civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official Israeli figures.

The militants also captured about 250 hostages and Israel says about 132 of them remain in Gaza, including the bodies of at least 28 dead detainees.

At least 26,083 Palestinians have been killed in Israeli bombings and ground attacks in the Gaza Strip since then, according to the Hamas government’s health ministry, about 70 percent of whom are women, young children and teenagers.

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