Starmer gave his condolences to the agency for the deaths of staff members killed in Gaza…reports Asian Lite News
Prime Minister Keir Starmer has pledged an additional £13 million ($16.56 million) to the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees. The announcement followed a meeting between him and UNRWA chief Philippe Lazzarini in London.
Starmer gave his condolences to the agency for the deaths of staff members killed in Gaza. The pair agreed that more needs to be done to protect aid workers in the Palestinian enclave, and reiterated their calls for an immediate ceasefire and the release of all hostages held by Hamas.
The money will come on top of the £21 million per year already given to UNRWA by the UK, which was temporarily suspended by the former government after Israel accused 12 agency members of taking part in the Oct. 7 Hamas attack in 2023.
Foreign Secretary David Lammy said he was “reassured” that UNRWA met UK government standards for vetting employees following an independent review of the situation.
UNRWA was established in 1949 to help Palestinian refugees. In October, Israel banned it from operating in its territory, hampering its ability to operate in the Occupied Territories.
Starmer condemned the decision, saying it had left him “gravely concerned” and would make it “impossible” for vital work to be done helping displaced and vulnerable Palestinian civilians.
Last month, Israel withdrew its recognition of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency, Israeli Ambassador to the UN Danny Danon tweeted on Monday morning.
Danon tweeted a copy of a letter notifying Secretary General Antonio Guterres. The development follows up on the Knesset passing legislation barring Israeli officials from cooperating with the embattled UN agency.
“Following the legislation on UNRWA, the State of Israel officially notified the President of the General Assembly of the termination of cooperation with the agency,” Danon tweeted.
“Despite the overwhelming evidence we submitted to the UN that substantiate Hamas’ infiltration of UNRWA, the UN did nothing to rectify the situation. The State of Israel will continue to cooperate with humanitarian organizations but not with organizations that promote terrorism against us.”
UNRWA has been under fire for months, with Israeli officials demanding the agency be stripped of its authority in Gaza and defunded amid revelations that members of the agency’s staff participated in Hamas’s October 7 attacks.
Palestinian refugees are the only refugee population with its own dedicated UN agency. The rest of the world’s refugees fall under the mandate of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees.
More than 100 survivors of Hamas’s October 7 attacks filed a $1 billion lawsuit against UNRWA in June, accusing the agency of “aiding and abetting” the terror group. According to the suit, the lead plaintiff, 84-year-old Ditza Heiman of Kibbutz Nir Oz, was held captive for seven weeks in the home of a Palestinian man who said he was a UNRWA teacher at a boy’s school.
Israel’s largest bank froze UNRWA’s account in February over suspicious financial transfers that the agency failed to adequately explain. That same month, Israeli forces discovered a Hamas complex located directly under the UNRWA’s Gaza City headquarters and connected directly to the agency’s electricity system. The facility included numerous computer servers belonging to the terror group.
UNRWA was also ordered to vacate its Jerusalem offices in May over lease violations.
At least 1,200 people were killed, and 252 Israelis and foreigners were taken hostage in Hamas’s attacks on Israeli communities near the Gaza border on October 7. Of the 97 remaining hostages, more than 30 have been declared dead. Hamas has also been holding captive two Israeli civilians since 2014 and 2015, and the bodies of two soldiers killed in 2014.
Israeli conducts airstrikes
Israel launched airstrikes on Hamas terrorists in southern Gaza overnight after intelligence determined they were gathering at two locations to hijack humanitarian aid trucks, the Israel Defense Forces disclosed on Thursday.
“The terrorists operated on the humanitarian corridor in the southern Gaza Strip. The strike was intended to ensure the safe delivery of humanitarian aid to civilians in the Gaza Strip,” the army said. “All of the terrorists that were eliminated were members of Hamas and planned to violently hijack humanitarian aid trucks and transfer them to Hamas in support of continuing terrorist activity, preventing them from reaching Gazan civilians, as was done in previous cases.”
The IDF stressed that no delivery trucks were struck and that the humanitarian corridor remains open for aid deliveries.
Since mid-November, Hamas and criminal gangs associated with the terror group stepped up their stealing of deliveries of food, water, medicine and other humanitarian supplies. At one point, 85% of all trucks entering the Strip were hijacked. The Press Service of Israel has learned that Hamas has granted distribution lines to these groups to ensure that humanitarian aid exclusively reaches Hamas. In return, these gangs receive money, food and vouchers. Hamas also pays these gangs USD 10,000 a month to maintain checkpoints.
Meanwhile, sacks of flour and rice donated by the West are being sold for USD 700 and USD 500 respectively while a pack of cigarettes costs USD 1,500. In September, Palestinian sources told TPS-IL that Hamas was charging $800 for donated tents.
ALSO READ: Regulator finds serious failings at Castle Point Borough Council
