Claims-v-Facts as UNRWA is under attack – again

JVL Introduction

The UK government is reviewing its funding for UNRWA because of the claim by one of the released Israeli hostages Emily Damari that she was kept in  UNRWA premises and not given the medical treatment that she needed: see, eg  Jewish News.

Emily Damari had a terrible ordeal: kept a hostage for more than 15 months, which would be bad enough, she had been shot in the leg and also lost two of her fingers.  We hope that an investigation will tell the whole story and that the government does not jump to conclusions or automatically generalise if the allegations are upheld.

Allegations against UNRWA are so frequent that they produce a regular “Claims -v- Facts” report, the latest of which is here and they address the allegation that Israeli hostages were kept in UNRWA premises.  It is full of useful information but to highlight a few sentences:

“UNRWA has had to push back constantly on Hamas threats against its management. Hamas has repeatedly and publicly accused UNRWA, especially its senior management, of colluding with the Israeli occupation. and For many years, Hamas has strongly opposed UNRWA’s education programme… ”

Does that sound as thought UNRWA is close to Hamas?

LL

This article was originally published by United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East on Mon 10 Feb 2025. Read the original here.