The director of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) in Lebanon said on Wednesday that the agency has not been affected by US President Donald Trump's suspension of foreign aid funding or by the Israeli ban on its operations. This was reported by "Reuters", quoted by News.bg.
“UNRWA currently receives no U.S. funding, so there is no direct impact from the more recent decisions related to the UN system on UNRWA“, Dorothy Klaus, UNRWA director in Lebanon, told reporters at the agency's field office.
U.S. funding for UNRWA was suspended last year until March 2025, following an agreement with U.S. lawmakers and after Israel charged 12 of the agency's 13,000 staff in Gaza with involvement in a Hamas attack on October 7, 2023, that led to the Gaza war.
The U.N. said nine UNRWA staff members had been dismissed for their possible involvement in the attack, and that it would investigate all allegations.
Dorothy Klaus said that four UNRWA staff members in Lebanon had been placed on administrative leave, while they investigate allegations that they violated the UN principle of neutrality.
Last year, a UNRWA teacher was already suspended, and a Hamas commander in Lebanon who was killed in an Israeli strike in September was identified as working for UNRWA.
Klaus said there was no "direct impact" on the agency's operations in Lebanon from the new Israeli law that bans UNRWA operations in East Jerusalem, the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. She assured that “UNRWA will continue to operate fully in Lebanon“.
The law passed in October prohibits UNRWA operations in Israeli land, including East Jerusalem, which Israel has annexed, but this act is not internationally recognized.
UNRWA provides aid, health and education services to millions of Palestinians both in the Palestinian territories and in neighboring Arab countries such as Syria, Lebanon and Jordan.
UNRWA Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini said on Tuesday that the agency had become the target of a “fierce disinformation campaign“ that aims to “present it as a terrorist organization“.