UK to renew funding UN Gaza assist company, David Lammy says

The UK will resume funding UNRWA, the UN’s company for Palestinian refugees, the overseas secretary has introduced.

David Lammy advised MPs he had obtained reassurances about its neutrality within the wake of a assessment of alleged hyperlinks between its employees and terror teams.

The UK was amongst 16 Western international locations to halt donations in January, after Israel alleged 12 UNRWA employees have been concerned within the October 2023 assaults by Hamas.

An inside UN investigation into allegations associated to that assault is ongoing.

However a separate UN assessment, revealed in April, discovered Israel had not offered proof for its claims lots of of UNRWA employees have been members of terror teams.

The announcement brings the UK into line with different international locations which have resumed funding since then, leaving the US, UNRWA’s single largest donor, as the one nation to not have restarted donations.

Talking within the Commons, Mr Lammy stated “no different company” was capable of ship assist on the scale required to alleviate the “determined” humanitarian state of affairs in Gaza.

He added UNRWA was feeding greater than half the territory’s two-million inhabitants and can be “important for future reconstruction”.

He stated he had been “appalled” by Israel’s allegations, however the claims had been taken “significantly” by the United Nations.

He had been reassured the company “is guaranteeing they meet the very best requirements of neutrality” within the wake of the April assessment, he added.

This included “strengthening its procedures, together with on vetting,” Mr Lammy stated.

He advised MPs a resumption of the UK’s £21m annual funding would come with cash put in direction of “administration reforms” beneficial by the UN assessment.

The Overseas Workplace stated £6m can be given to UNRWA’s flash enchantment for Gaza, and £15m to the company’s price range to supply providers within the Israeli-occupied Palestinian territories and wider area.

UNRWA spokeswoman Juliette Touma advised the BBC the company welcomed the announcement, which got here at a “important time as humanitarian wants in Gaza proceed to deepen”.

She added that the company had reassured the UK it was implementing suggestions from the April report, “particularly as regards to persevering with to observe the precept of neutrality in our programmes”.

The assessment, by former French Overseas Minister Catherine Colonna, discovered Israel had “but to supply supporting proof” for its claims {that a} “important variety of UNRWA workers are members of terrorist organizations”.

Israel has stated greater than 2,135 workers of the company – out of a complete of 13,000 in Gaza – are members of Hamas or Palestinian Islamic Jihad, proscribed as terrorist organisations by Israel, the UK, US and different international locations.

Nonetheless, the assessment concluded the company should do extra to enhance its neutrality, employees vetting and transparency.

Israeli authorities counsel the report ignores the severity of the issue, and declare UNRWA has systematic hyperlinks with Hamas.

Israel initially alleged that 12 UNRWA employees took half within the Hamas assaults on southern Israel, which noticed 1,200 individuals killed and about 250 taken hostage.

Greater than 38,000 individuals have been killed in Gaza since then, in accordance with the territory’s Hamas-run well being ministry, after Israel launched a navy marketing campaign in Gaza in response to the assaults.

UNRWA sacked the ten of the 12 workers who have been nonetheless alive when the allegations emerged and the UN’s Workplace of Inner Oversight launched an investigation into the claims.

In April, the physique stated eight workers remained underneath investigation, with inquiries suspended in 4 of the instances due to inadequate proof.

It added it had additionally begun investigations into an extra seven employees members, and 6 of these instances have been ongoing.

Throughout his Commons assertion, Mr Lammy additionally rejected calls from some Labour MPs to impose a ban on all UK weapons gross sales to Israel.

Alongside Inexperienced MPs and pro-Gaza independents, some 14 Labour backbenchers need to desk an modification calling for an arms embargo throughout a debate subsequent week on the King’s Speech, the federal government’s law-making plans.

The overseas secretary stated it could “not be proper to have a blanket ban” as Israel was surrounded by enemies in “one of many hardest neighbourhoods on the earth”.

He added that arms export licences can be saved underneath assessment “within the regular means” by reviewing assessments of Israel’s compliance by authorities legal professionals.

A “complete assessment” was underneath means and he would replace MPs as soon as it was full, Mr Lammy stated.

Nonetheless, he didn’t decide to publishing inside authorized recommendation – one thing he known as on the earlier authorities to do when Labour was in opposition.