Germany announced on Wednesday that it would resume funding to the main U.N. aid agency for Palestinians, UNRWA.
The move comes as the European country, UNRWA’s second largest donor, previously suspended financial assistance to the organization amid reports by Israeli intelligence officials that some of the participants in the October 7 rampage in southern Israel were employees of the institution.
Berlin’s actions follow Monday’s report by former French Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna, who was tasked by U.N. Secretary General António Guterres to make reform recommendations considering Israel’s allegations.
Colonna’s investigation suggested that there was insufficient evidence to substantiate Jerusalem’s claims but included several proposals to improve UNRWA’s neutrality.
The Israeli Foreign Ministry objected to the findings, saying that it shared with Germany and other countries “detailed information about hundreds of Hamas military operatives and many hundreds of other operatives belonging to the terrorist organizations Hamas and Islamic Jihad — all UNRA employees.”
UNRWA has come under repeated criticism in the past for providing support to terror groups, celebrating the murder of Israelis in the schools that it controls, misusing funds, and promoting jihadist propaganda.
In February, IDF soldiers discovered a Hamas logistics and data center underneath UNRWA’s Gaza headquarters.
Concerns about the relationship between terrorists and UNRWA caused former U.S. President Donald Trump to revoke funding for the 75-year-old agency in 2018 and the U.S. Congress to prohibit any assistance to it in March.
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