UN chief calls on Australia and other donor states to guarantee the flow of aid to Gaza
The United Nations’ chief has called on Australia and other nations to lift their halt on aid to a UN agency in Gaza after some of its staff were implicated in the Hamas’ October 7 attacks.
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The UN chief has called on Australia and other donor states to guarantee the flow of aid to Gaza after several halted funding to the agency for Palestinians over claims some of its staff participated in the October 7 attacks.
While the row over the UNRWA aid agency for Palestinian refugees deepened, heavy fighting in the besieged Gaza Strip sent more people fleeing south towards the Egyptian border.
The UNRWA said on Friday it had fired several employees over Israel’s unspecified accusations about the involvement of some of its staff in Hamas’s October 7 attack.
Donors including Australia, Germany, Britain, Italy and Finland on Saturday followed the lead of the United States, which said it had suspended additional funding to the agency over the accusations.
“While I understand their concerns – I was myself horrified by these accusations – I strongly appeal to the governments that have suspended their contributions to, at least, guarantee the continuity of UNRWA’s operations,” UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said in a statement.
Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz called for UNRWA chief Philippe Lazzarini to quit after saying earlier the body “must be replaced with agencies dedicated to genuine peace and development” after Gaza’s bloodiest war.
“Mr Lazzarini please resign,” Katz said on social media platform X late on Saturday in response to a post by the UNRWA chief warning that the funding cuts meant the agency’s operation in Gaza was close to collapse.
Guterres said the “abhorrent alleged acts” of some UNRWA staff should not mean that its thousands of other humanitarian workers were penalised.
“The dire needs of the desperate populations they serve must be met,” he said.
AUSTRALIA PAUSES AID OVER UN STAFF CLAIMS
Australia suspended its funding to the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, after Israel accused several employees of involvement in Hamas’s October 7 attack.
Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong said on Saturday she was “deeply concerned” by the allegations against the agency, UNRWA.
“We are speaking with partners and will temporarily pause disbursement of recent funding,” she wrote on social media platform X.
“We welcome UNRWA’s immediate response, including terminating contracts and launching an investigation, as well as its recent announcement of a full investigation into allegations against the organisation,” she added.
Canada’s International Development Minister Ahmed Hussen on Friday announced that Ottawa had “temporarily paused any additional funding to UNRWA while it undertakes a thorough investigation into these allegations”.
“Canada is taking these reports extremely seriously and is engaging closely with UNRWA and other donors on this issue,” he wrote on X.
“Should the allegations prove to be accurate, Canada expects UNRWA to immediately act against those determined to have been involved in Hamas’s terrorist attacks.” The moves come after the United States halted its funding to UNRWA on Friday, saying the allegations were against 12 employees who “may have been involved” in the Hamas attack that triggered the war in Gaza.
Senator Wong noted in her statement UNRWA’s “vital, life saving work”, adding it “is providing essential services in Gaza directly to those who need it, with more than 1.4 million Palestinians currently sheltering in its facilities”.
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WORLD COURT RULES ON ISRAEL ‘GENOCIDE’ HEARING
Israel vowed to fight until “total victory” against Hamas after the International Court of Justice did not call for a ceasefire in Gaza despite finding a “plausible” risk of genocide.
No side backed down after the United Nations court in The Hague ordered Israel to take measures to prevent potential acts of genocide, while stopping short of demanding an immediate end to the four-month counteroffensive in Gaza.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu rejected the UN as “outrageous” and said they would continue the “just war” against Hamas, despite widespread criticism over the country’s relentless bombing of civilians.
South Africa had brought the case accusing Israel of breaching the 1948 UN Genocide Convention that was set up in the ashes of World War II and the Holocaust.
“At this stage, South Africa does not need to prove that Israel is committing genocide,” Juliette McIntyre, a lecturer in international law at the University of South Australia, told AFP before the ruling.
“They simply need to establish that there is a plausible risk of genocide occurring.”
The court ruling against Israel means “there is a plausible risk of genocide — not that there is genocide”, McIntyre adds.
While not achieving its major objective of an immediate ceasefire, South Africa, the Palestinian Authority and Hamas welcomed the ruling as a “decisive victory” in alienating Israel from the world.
“The (International) Court of Justice’s decision is an important development which contributes to isolating Israel and exposing its crimes in Gaza,” Hamas said in a statement.
Israel must report to the court within a month on how it is upholding the order to prevent acts of genocide. While the ruling is legally binding, the court has no enforcement mechanism. Russia, for example, has been ordered to end its war in Ukraine.
The 15 to 2 ruling, which also ordered Israel to “prevent and punish” incitement to genocide, did not consider whether Israelis were committing genocide, which is a process that can take several years.
South Africa had accused Israel of “genocidal” acts and urged the court to order Israel to “immediately suspend” its military operations in Gaza.
South Africa’s Ministry of foreign affairs said in a statement the ICJ’s decision “is a momentous one,” adding it puts other countries “on notice” of the potential risk of genocide.
“This necessarily imposes an obligation on all States to cease funding and facilitating Israel’s military actions, which are plausibly genocidal,” the statement said.
Israel Defence Minister Yoav Gallant said they would not be “lectured on morality” while fighting Hamas in Gaza, saying those seeking justice would not find it in The Hague.
At least 26,083 people have been killed and 64,487 wounded in Israeli attacks on Gaza since October 7. The death toll in Israel from the October 7 Hamas attacks stands at 1,139.
ISRAEL PREVENTING JOURNALISTS FROM LEAVING
Germany’s state broadcaster ARD has accused Israel of preventing two of its Palestinians workers from leaving Gaza, where they fear for their lives.
The outlet said it had been pushing for two of its long-term Palestinian workers to be able to leave Gaza for more than two months, with support from the German government, Reuters reported. Israel has so far refused, citing security concerns, it said.
One of its employees, Mohammed Abusaif, had already been evacuated eight times since the beginning of the Israeli offensive and was now living in a tent in the southern town of Rafah, ARD said.
“This does not make sense because they would not even be stepping onto Israeli soil,” ARD senior editor Christian Nitsche said.
“These colleagues are no security risk, and we call therefore on the Israeli authorities, on the government, to let our colleagues leave.”
The German foreign ministry, in a social media post, said it shared ARD’s concerns about their local staff and would continue to push for them to be able to leave.
BRITAIN’S OPPOSITION URGES iSRAEL TO COMPLY WITH ICJ
The shadow foreign secretary, David Lammy, has called for an “end to extremist rhetoric” and Israel’s adherence to the “urgent provisional measures” set out in the interim decision, the UK Press Association reported.
“The interim ruling under the Genocide Convention on the situation in Gaza is a profoundly serious moment. Labour has been clear throughout the conflict that international law must be upheld, that the independence of international courts must be respected, and that all sides must be accountable for their actions,” Mr Lammy said.
“The ICJ’s interim ruling … sets out urgent provisional measures that must be followed. Israel must now comply with the orders in this ruling in full.
“The ICJ’s measures align closely with Labour’s longstanding calls for the protection of civilians, urgent humanitarian relief in Gaza and an end to extremist rhetoric. We will press for these orders to be implemented, alongside an immediate humanitarian truce and a sustainable ceasefire.”
UK’s foreign secretary David Cameron was concluding a visit to the Middle East on Friday, having pushed the Israeli government on a two-state solution to the Middle East crisis and called for urgent humanitarian pauses in Israel’s military operations.
With AFP
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