After some donor countries suspended funding for the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich revealed that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had instructed the military to explore the possibility of distributing humanitarian aid in Gaza instead of UNRWA. This was reported by the Israeli newspaper "Haaretz."
Smotrich added that under the plan, the Israeli army would take responsibility for distributing aid directly to the residents of Gaza instead of UNRWA. Netanyahu considered on Wednesday that the UN agency is "completely infiltrated" by Hamas, following several countries halting funding for UNRWA after accusations from Israel that its employees were involved in the attack on October 7.
In a meeting in Jerusalem with representatives from the United Nations, Netanyahu stated, "UNRWA is completely infiltrated by Hamas," adding, "We need other UN agencies and aid organizations to replace UNRWA." He expressed his regret, saying, "We had hoped there would be an objective and constructive body to provide assistance. We need such a body today in Gaza, but UNRWA is not that body."
He stressed that it is necessary to end UNRWA's mandate, noting, "It is time for the international community and the UN itself to understand that the mandate of UNRWA must be ended." He added that UNRWA "seeks to keep the issue of Palestinian refugees alive. We must replace other UN agencies and relief agencies with UNRWA if we want to solve the Gaza problem as we plan to do."
