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Home News Unrwa Lebanon Unaffected By US Aid Freeze Or Israeli Ban

Unrwa Lebanon Unaffected By US Aid Freeze Or Israeli Ban

by Celia

The director of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) for Palestinian refugees in Lebanon said on Wednesday that the agency has not been impacted by the U.S. aid freeze or a new Israeli law banning its operations in certain areas.

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“UNRWA currently is not receiving any U.S. funding, so there is no direct impact of the recent decisions related to the U.N. system on UNRWA,” Dorothee Klaus told reporters at UNRWA’s field office in Lebanon.

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U.S. funding to UNRWA was suspended last year until March 2025. This followed accusations from Israel that 12 of the agency’s 13,000 employees in Gaza participated in the October 7, 2023, Hamas attack that triggered the Gaza war. The U.N. has said it fired nine UNRWA staff members who may have been involved and will investigate all allegations.

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Klaus also noted that UNRWA Lebanon had placed four staff members on administrative leave while investigating claims they violated the U.N. principle of neutrality. One UNRWA teacher had already been suspended last year, and a Hamas commander in Lebanon, killed in an Israeli strike in September, was found to have worked for UNRWA.

Klaus emphasized that there was “no direct impact” on UNRWA’s operations in Lebanon from a new Israeli law banning the agency’s activities in East Jerusalem, the West Bank, and the Gaza Strip. “UNRWA will continue fully operating in Lebanon,” she said.

The law, adopted in October, prohibits UNRWA’s operations on Israeli land, including East Jerusalem, and contact with Israeli authorities starting January 30. UNRWA provides aid, health, and education services to millions of Palestinians in the territories and neighboring countries, including Syria, Lebanon, and Jordan.

UNRWA’s commissioner general, Philippe Lazzarini, said on Tuesday that the agency has been targeted by a “fierce disinformation campaign” aimed at portraying it as a terrorist organization.

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