Germany Will Resume Funding for UNRWA After a UN Report

Germany said connected Wednesday that it would resume backing for the main U.N. bureau aiding Palestinians successful Gaza, known arsenic UNRWA, aft an autarkic reappraisal recovered that Israel had not provided grounds of allegations that led galore donor nations to retreat enactment for the agency.

The announcement was apt to origin further strain successful Germany’s longstanding adjacent ties with Israel, which person deteriorated due to the fact that of differences implicit the warfare successful Gaza.

Germany, which gave much than $200 cardinal to UNRWA successful 2023, is the agency’s 2nd largest donor aft the United States, which has besides withdrawn its backing and has yet to accidental whether it volition reconstruct it.

“The German authorities has looked intimately astatine the allegations made by Israel against UNRWA and has been successful adjacent interaction with the Israeli government, the United Nations and different planetary donors,” work a connection issued by Germany’s overseas and improvement ministries connected Wednesday.

The connection said that Germany expected the bureau to instrumentality connected the recommendations from the autarkic reappraisal led by a erstwhile French overseas minister, Catherine Colonna, to support its neutrality.

The reappraisal was commissioned by the United Nations successful January, conscionable earlier Israel alleged that a twelve of the agency’s 13,000 employees successful Gaza had participated successful the Oct. 7 Hamas-led violent attacks oregon their aftermath, and that galore were members of Hamas oregon its allies. In findings released connected Monday, the reappraisal did not code whether immoderate employees had taken portion successful the onslaught but said Israel had provided nary grounds that galore UNRWA workers belonged to militant groups.

Israel harshly criticized the study and repeated its assertion that UNRWA should beryllium disbanded.

After Israel’s claims successful January, Germany joined much than a twelve countries, successful pausing caller backing for the agency, though it noted nary caller funds were scheduled. Several countries person since resumed backing for UNRWA.

Germany’s enactment for Israel is considered cardinal to the modern German state, portion of its nationalist effort to atone for the Holocaust. Chancellor Olaf Scholz was 1 of the archetypal Western leaders to get successful Tel Aviv pursuing the Oct. 7 attacks.

But that enactment has travel nether strain implicit the worsening conditions for civilians successful Gaza nether Israeli bombardment. Germany’s overseas minister, Annalena Baerbock, said successful February that “words tin hardly picture the concern of the radical successful Gaza,” and she has repeatedly warned against an Israeli penetration of Rafah, the southernmost Gaza metropolis wherever much than a cardinal civilians person sought structure from the war.