Colonna report: No evidence yet of Israel’s claims against UNWRA
The Colonna report, commissioned by the UN following Israeli allegations, found that UNRWA had regularly supplied Israel with lists of its employees for vetting. It states that "the Israeli government has not informed UNRWA of any concerns relating to any UNRWA staff based on these staff lists since 2011.”
Israeli allegations regarding the involvement of UNRWA staff in the Hamas attack on Israel on October 7 led major donors in January to cut their funding to the agency. This funding cut affects the main channel of humanitarian support not only to Palestinians in Gaza but also to Palestinian refugee communities across the region.
UN statement:
“Israel made public claims that a significant number of UNRWA employees are members of terrorist organisations. However, Israel has yet to provide supporting evidence of this,” according to the 54-page final report, Independent review of mechanisms and procedures to ensure adherence by UNRWA to the humanitarian principle of neutrality.
The UN Secretary-General, who received the final report at the weekend, had appointed the independent review group days after Israel announced the allegations against UNRWA, which employees 30,000 people and serves 5.9 million Palestine refugees in the West Bank, Jordan, Lebanon, Syria and war-torn Gaza.
The much-awaited final report found that UNRWA, established by the General Assembly in 1949, has extensive tools in place to ensure it remains unbiased in its work and routinely provides Israel with employee lists and “the Israeli Government has not informed UNRWA of any concerns relating to any UNRWA staff based on these staff lists since 2011.”
Final Report Release - Independent Review Group on UNRWA: The final report of the Independent Review Group on UNRWA (United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees):
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