The allegations against staffers with the U.N. agency for Palestinian refugees prompted Western countries to freeze funds vital for the body, which is a lifeline for desperate Palestinians in Gaza. The U.N. fired nine of the 12 accused workers and condemned “the abhorrent alleged acts” of staff members.
The accusations come after years of tensions between Israel and the agency known as UNRWA over its work in Gaza, where it employs roughly 13,000 people.
Despite the humanitarian catastrophe unfolding in the besieged territory — where Israel’s war against Hamas has displaced the vast majority of the population and officials say a quarter of Palestinians are starving — major donors, including the U.S. and Britain, have cut funding. On Monday, Japan and Austria joined them in pausing assistance.
This is the best summary I could come up with:
The order indicated that battles are still being waged in northern Gaza, an area Israel pummeled in the first weeks of the war and where it had previously said it held military control.
The attack set off an intense air, sea and ground offensive that has killed more than 26,000 Palestinians, most of them women and minors, according to the Health Ministry in Hamas-ruled Gaza.
The war has also threatened to set off a wider regional conflict, with the U.S. announcing three of its troops killed in a strike blamed on Iran-backed militias in Jordan.
The Israeli document, which has been shared with U.S. officials and was obtained by The Associated Press, lists 12 people, their alleged roles in the attack, job descriptions and photos.
Since the war began, most of the territory’s 2.3 million people depend on the agency’s programs for “sheer survival,” including food and shelter, Lazzarini said.
A quarter of Gaza’s population is facing starvation as fighting and Israeli restrictions hinder the delivery of aid, which has been well below the daily average of 500 trucks before the war.
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