UNRWA

December 2, 2024 10:49 AM

UN refugee agency halts Gaza aid deliveries amid rampant looting

The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) has suspended its aid operations through the Kerem Shalom crossing into Gaza following a series of armed robberies that have disrupted humanitarian assistance to the besieged territory. The decision comes after armed gangs seized an entire convoy of aid trucks on November 16, followed by another raid on food trucks on November 29. UNRWA officials cite multiple challenges hampering their humanitarian mission, including the...

October 29, 2024 10:18 AM

Israel votes to ban UN relief agency aiding Palestinians

Israel's parliament passed a law on Monday to ban the UN relief agency UNRWA from operating inside the country, alarming some of Israel's Western allies who fear it will worsen the already dire humanitarian situation in Gaza. Israeli officials cited the involvement of a handful of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees' thousands of staffers in the Oct. 7, 2023, attack on southern Israel and a few staffers' membership in Hamas and other armed groups. "UNRWA worke...

October 3, 2024 1:58 PM

Nobel Peace Prize could honour UNRWA, ICJ, UN chief Guterres

The United Nations Palestinian refugee agency (UNRWA), the International Court of Justice and U.N. chief Antonio Guterres are among the favourites for this year's Nobel Peace Prize, experts said, in a year marked by the wars in Gaza and Ukraine. Given past form, the Norwegian Nobel Committee is capable of springing a complete surprise in the October 11 announcement - including not giving the prize at all. With 2024 marked by the now spreading Israel-Hamas war, a Ukraine conflict in its third y...

September 12, 2024 11:12 AM

UN Palestinian refugee agency says six staffers killed in two airstrikes in Gaza

The U.N. Palestinian refugee agency UNRWA said six staffers were killed after two airstrikes hit a school in central Gaza on Wednesday, marking what it said was the highest death toll among its staff in a single incident. "Among those killed was the manager of the UNRWA shelter and other team members providing assistance to displaced people," UNRWA said on X. Earlier on Wednesday, the Israeli army said in a statement that it conducted a strike on a command and control center in Nuseirat in cen...

June 24, 2024 11:42 PM

UNRWA is sued by Israeli victims of Oct. 7 Hamas attack

The United Nations Palestinian refugee agency was sued on Monday by dozens of Israelis who accused it of aiding and abetting the Oct. 7 Hamas attack on Israel. In a complaint filed with the U.S. District Court in Manhattan, the plaintiffs said the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) spent more than a decade helping Hamas build what they called the "terror infrastructure" and personnel needed for the attack. The plaintiffs are seeking unspecifi...

April 24, 2024 2:41 PM

Germany to resume cooperation with Palestinian UNRWA agency

The German government plans to resume cooperation with the UN agency for Palestinians (UNRWA) in Gaza, the foreign and development ministries said in a joint statement on Wednesday. The decision follows an investigation by the former French foreign minister Catherine Colonna into whether some UNRWA employees were involved in the Oct. 7 attack by Hamas. The Colonna-led review of the agency's neutrality on Monday concluded Israel had yet to back up its accusations that hundreds of UNRWA staff we...