Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, a New York Democrat, wants the Biden administration to reverse course and "restore" humanitarian aid to Palestinians in Gaza amid the Israel-Hamas war.
On October 7, 2023, Hamas led the deadliest Palestinian militant attack on Israel in history. Israel subsequently launched its heaviest-ever airstrikes on Gaza, home to more than 2 million Palestinians. Israeli officials have said that about 1,200 people in Israel were killed and some 250 hostages were taken by Hamas, according to the Associated Press. Meanwhile, more than 26,000 Palestinians have been killed, officials from the health ministry in Gaza said. International organizations have sounded the alarm of the worsening humanitarian situation in the region after Israel cut off Palestine's supply of water, fuel, and electricity in response to the attack.
The United States is one of nine countries pausing funding to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) after allegations that a dozen of its workers aided Hamas in its attack on Israel. U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said last Thursday that Israeli officials provided "specific information" resulting in the funding cutoff that affects an agency with approximately 13,000 workers in the region, most of them Palestinian.
"Cutting off support to @UNRWA—the primary source of humanitarian aid to 2 million+ Gazans—is unacceptable," Ocasio-Cortez wrote Monday morning on X, formerly Twitter. "Among an organization of 13,000 UN aid workers, risking the starvation of millions over grave allegations of 12 is indefensible. The US should restore aid immediately."
Newsweek reached out to Ocasio-Cortez via email for comment.
U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres has called on the nine countries pausing funding—the U.S., Germany, United Kingdom, Australia, Italy, Canada, Finland, Japan and the Netherlands—to "guarantee the continuity of UNRWA's operations," saying humanitarian workers in the region "should not be penalized."
An National Security Council (NSC) spokesperson referred Newsweek to remarks made on Monday by NSC coordinator John Kirby on MSNBC's Morning Joe, in which he called the allegations against the UNRWA workers "very troubling."
"People need to remember, they brought the allegations forward to us," Kirby said. "They told us about it. They're taking it seriously, they've called for an investigation. The secretary general of the U.N. said he'll hold anybody responsible, accountable, even through potentially criminal prosecutions. That's a good sign they're taking this very, very seriously. They don't want this stain on their organization."
He added: "We'll sit tight on additional funding for UNRWA until they work through this, then we'll make the appropriate decisions based on, not only the investigation results, but also what they do about those results."
Intelligence reportedly shared by Israel with the U.S. showed that about 1,200 UNRWA employees have ties to either Hamas or the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, according to the Wall Street Journal on Monday—adding that approximately half of the agency's employees in Gaza have at least one close relative with ties to the groups.
UNRWA Commissioner General Philippe Lazzarini reacted with dismay at the actions of the U.S. and eight other nations, saying in a statement on Saturday that a "looming famine" can potentially be avoided only if such aid continues.
"It is shocking to see a suspension of funds to the Agency in reaction to allegations against a small group of staff, especially given the immediate action that UNRWA took by terminating their contracts and asking for a transparent independent investigation," he said. "It would be immensely irresponsible to sanction an Agency and an entire community it serves because of allegations of criminal acts against some individuals, especially at a time of war, displacement and political crises in the region."
The UNWRA did not receive any notice of concern after it shared the list of its entire staff to host countries including Israel, Lazzarini added.
On January 4, former Israeli official Noga Arbell said during a session of Israeli Parliament that the UNRWA should be disbanded.
"Our main goal in the war is to eliminate the threat and not to neutralize it," Arbell said, according to a translation. "And we know how to eliminate terrorists. It is more difficult for us with an idea. UNRWA is the source of the idea. The idea is that more and more terrorists are born in all kinds of methods. And it will be impossible to win the war if we do not destroy UNRWA, and this destruction must begin immediately."
CNN reporter Jeremy Diamond reported on Sunday that he and his crew filmed about two dozen Palestinian men, barefoot and blindfolded, while surrounded by Israeli soldiers. The purported abductees were wearing white coveralls in 50-degree temperatures.
"We now know that these men were Palestinians detained by the Israeli military in Gaza and brought to Israel for further questioning," Diamond said.
An Israeli spokesperson told CNN that such individuals are taken in for questioning and if not deemed to be partaking in "terrorist activities" they are subsequently released back in Gaza as soon as possible.
Uncommon Knowledge
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
fairness meter
To Rate This Article
About the writer
Nick Mordowanec is a Newsweek reporter based in Michigan. His focus is reporting on Ukraine and Russia, along with social ... Read more
To read how Newsweek uses AI as a newsroom tool, Click here.
