This news comes after Germany announced today that it would restore its funding to the agency, which it froze in January amid accusations by Israel that UNRWA personnel had participated in the October 7 attacks on Israel. This week, a report by Catherine Colonna, former French foreign minister, debunked the Israeli accusations.
“Political sources in Israel have acknowledged in conversations with foreign diplomats in recent days that Jerusalem had failed to influence the report in the way it had hoped,” Haaretz reported.
“An Israeli source involved in the diplomatic effort to stop UNRWA funding told Haaretz that the failure was not in the field of public relations and communications, but was due to the lack of a convincing alternative to UNRWA” , he added.
Philippe Lazzarini, head of UNRWA, told Al Jazeera that Israel’s campaign to discredit and defund the organization had led it to face an “unprecedented” crisis.
UNRWA plays a vital role in distributing desperately needed aid inside Gaza, where thousands of people face famine.
UNRWA has been prevented from doing its work since January, when Israel accused a handful of its thousands of employees of being involved in Hamas attacks against Israel.
Amid a display of claims, several countries have cut funding to the agency, and its work helping Gaza’s famine-stricken population has been affected.
At least 18 countries initially suspended funding to the agency amid the allegations.
UNRWA was created by the UN General Assembly more than 70 years ago to help Palestinians who were forcibly displaced from their lands.
The agency provides crucial support to millions of Palestinian refugees in the Gaza Strip, West Bank, Jordan, Lebanon, Syria and other areas where large numbers of registered Palestinians live.