According to a UN Spokesperson, Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, in consultation with Philippe Lazzarini, the Commissioner-General for UNRWA, has appointed an independent review group to conduct an assessment of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA).
The UN spokesperson added in the statement that the group will assess whether UNRWA is doing everything within its power to ensure neutrality and respond to allegations of serious breaches.
This follows Israel’s allegations that members of the UN organisation took part in Hamas’ October 7 attack against Israel.
Several Western countries have suspended funding for UNRWA, sparking criticism from rights advocates who say that weakening the agency will deepen the humanitarian crisis in Gaza.
Guterres said that the independent review group will be helmed by former French Foreign Minister, Catherine Colonna.
Earlier, the UNRWA said that it cannot carry out its mission and provide humanitarian relief if safety conditions are not met.
“Safe and sustainable humanitarian access is urgently needed everywhere, including to the north of Gaza,” UNRWA said in a post on X.
Thomas White, the Director of UNRWA Affairs – Gaza, said that “a food convoy waiting to move into Northern Gaza was hit by Israeli naval gunfire.”
He added that no one was injured.
The agency stated that the scale of destruction in north Gaza is “staggering.”
It shared footage of one of its health centres around widespread destruction, saying, “There is nothing left. This is an unprecedented level of destruction and forced displacement, taking place in front of our eyes.”
Moreover, the Commissioner-General of UNRWA, Philippe Lazzarini, said that nearly five percent of the Gaza Strip’s population has been either killed, wounded, or missing.
“In 4 months of war, around 100,000 people in Gaza were killed, injured or are currently missing,” Lazzarini said in a post on X.
More than 80 percent of the 2.3 million population has been displaced, most of them several times over, he added.
“A ceasefire is overdue, a different trajectory is needed for the sake of people in Gaza, in Israel, elsewhere in the region and beyond,” he said.
Netanyahu Rejects Deal On Captive Release
Also on Monday, Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu said that Hamas has put forward “demands that we will not accept” regarding the release of captives held in Gaza.
Netanyahu’s Likud Party was quoted as saying said in a statement that an agreement “should be similar to the previous agreement” in November, which exchanged Palestinians held in Israeli prisons for captives held in Gaza and led to a temporary pause in the fighting.
Speaking to Israeli forces, Netanyahu said his policy remains one of “total victory” over Hamas.
Meanwhile, U.S Secretary of State, Antony Blinken has arrived in Saudi Arabia, the first stop in a wider tour of the Middle East.
Washington is trying to advance negotiations on a normalisation deal between the kingdom and Israel and make progress on talks about the governance of post-war Gaza.
Blinken is making his fifth trip to the region since October 7 as the US carries out strikes on Iran-backed fighters in Syria, Iraq and Yemen in response to a drone attack in late January in Jordan that killed three American soldiers and wounded dozens.
Blinken is also to visit Egypt, Qatar and Israel this week and push to advance Egyptian- and Qatari-mediated talks with Hamas to achieve a deal on the release of Israeli captives.
Trying to get more humanitarian aid into Gaza is at the top of US Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s agenda.
It’s also expected that Blinken is going to be discussing what’s going on elsewhere in the region right now, specifically those US-led air strikes in places like Yemen, Iraq and Syria against Iran-backed fighters.
He wants to try to ease tensions in the region.
That is certainly something that is going to be paramount on his agenda because US President Joe Biden is concerned about a wider escalation in the region.
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