JERUSALEM: An Israeli intelligence dossier that prompted a cascade of countries to halt funds for a UN Palestinian aid agency includes allegations that some staff took part in abductions and killings during the Oct. 7 raid that sparked the Gaza war.
The six-page dossier, seen by Reuters, alleges that some 190 UNRWA employees, including teachers, have doubled as Hamas or Islamic Jihad militants. It has names and pictures for 11 them.
The Palestinians have accused Israel of falsifying information to tarnish UNRWA, which says it has fired some staffers and is investigating the allegations.
One of the 11 is a school counsellor accused in the Israeli dossier of providing unspecified assistance to his son in the abduction of a woman during the Hamas infiltration in which Israel says 1,200 people were killed and 253 kidnapped.
Another, an UNRWA social worker, is accused of unspecified involvement in the transfer to Gaza of a slain Israeli soldier’s corpse and of coordinating the movements of pick-up trucks used by the raiders and of weapons supplies.
A third Palestinian in the dossier is accused of taking part in a rampage in the Israeli border village Beeri, one tenth of whose residents were killed. A fourth is accused of participating in an attack on Reim, site both of an army base that was overrun and a rave where more than 360 revellers died.
The dossier was shown to Reuters by a source who could not be identified by name or nationality. The source said that it had been compiled by Israeli intelligence and shared with the United States, which on Friday suspended funding for UNRWA.
The accusations that 190 staff have militant links would represent nearly 15 percent of UNRWA’s total Gaza employees of 13,000.
Asked about the dossier, a spokesperson for UNRWA said she could not comment due to an ongoing probe by the United Nations.
More than 10 countries, including major donors the United States and Germany, have halted their funding to the agency.
Aid operation jeopardized
That is a huge problem for an agency that more than half of Gaza’s 2.3 million Palestinians look to for day-to-day assistance, and which has already been hard-stretched by Israel’s war on Hamas in the enclave.
UNRWA said on Monday it would not be able to continue operations in Gaza and across the region beyond the end of February if funding were not resumed.
The United Nations Relief and Works Agency was set up for refugees of the 1948 war at Israel’s founding in what had been British-ruled Palestine. It also tends to millions of the original refugees’ descendants in Palestinian territories and abroad.
Israel has long accused UNRWA or perpetuating conflict by discouraging the resettlement of refugees, and has on occasion said agency staff took part in armed attacks against it.
UNRWA denies wrongdoing, describing its role as relief only.
“From intelligence information, documents and identity cards seized during the course of the fighting, it is now possible to flag around 190 Hamas and PIJ terrorist operatives who serve as UNRWA employees,” the Hebrew-language dossier says.
It accuses Hamas of “methodically and deliberately deploying its terrorist infrastructure in a wide range of UN facilities and assets,” including schools. Hamas denies that.
Two of the alleged Hamas operatives cited in the dossier are described as “eliminated,” or killed by Israeli forces. A 12th Palestinian whose name and picture are provided is said to have no factional membership and to have infiltrated Israel on Oct 7.
Also in the list of 12 men are an UNRWA teacher accused of arming himself with an anti-tank rocket, another teacher accused of filming a hostage and the manager of a shop in an UNRWA school accused of opening a war-room for Islamic Jihad.
More than 26,000 people have been killed in Israel’s military campaign against Hamas in Gaza, the enclave’s health ministry said. With flows of aid like food and medicine just a trickle of pre-conflict levels, deaths from preventable diseases as well as risk of famine are growing, aid workers say.
Most of Gaza’s people have become more reliant on UNRWA aid, including about one million who have fled Israeli bombardments to shelter in its facilities.
“The terrrorist organizations are cynically exploiting the residents of the Strip and the international organizations whose mission is to provide aid ... and in doing so are causing de facto harm to residents of the Strip,” the dossier said.
Israeli intelligence accuses 190 Gaza UN staff of Hamas, Islamic Jihad roles
https://arab.news/jjaqv
Israeli intelligence accuses 190 Gaza UN staff of Hamas, Islamic Jihad roles
- Multiple donors have cut funds to UNRWA after accusations
- Some staff took part in Oct. 7 rampage — intelligence dossier
US doesn’t believe ‘genocide’ occurring in Gaza: White House
- White House National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan insisted that the responsibility for peace lay with Hamas
- Biden has come under fire from Republicans for halting some weapons shipments
WASHINGTON DC: The United States does not believe that genocide is occurring in Gaza but Israel must do more to protect Palestinian civilians, President Joe Biden’s top national security official said Monday.
As ceasefire talks stall and Israel continued striking the southern city of Rafah, White House National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan insisted that the responsibility for peace lay with militant group Hamas.
“We believe Israel can and must do more to ensure the protection and wellbeing of innocent civilians. We do not believe what is happening in Gaza is a genocide,” Sullivan told a briefing.
The US was “using the internationally accepted term for genocide, which includes a focus on intent” to reach this assessment, Sullivan added.
Biden wanted to see Hamas defeated but realized that Palestinian civilians were in “hell,” Sullivan said.
Sullivan said he was coming to the White House podium to “take a step back” and set out the Biden administration’s position on the conflict, amid criticism from both ends of the US political spectrum.
Biden has come under fire from Republicans for halting some weapons shipments to press his demands that Israel hold off a Rafah offensive, while there have been protests at US universities against his support for Israel.
The US president believed any Rafah operation “has got to be connected to a strategic endgame that also answered the question, ‘what comes next?’” Sullivan added.
This would avoid Israel “getting mired in a counterinsurgency campaign that never ends, and ultimately saps Israel’s strength and vitality.”
First international UN staff member killed in Gaza attack
- Guterres “was deeply saddened to learn of the death of a UN DSS staff member and injury to another DSS staffer when their UN vehicle was struck,” spokesperson said
- “The Secretary-General condemns all attacks on UN personnel and calls for a full investigation,” Haq said
UNITED NATIONS: A UN security services member was killed in an attack on a vehicle in Gaza on Monday, a spokesperson said, adding the death was the first international UN employee killed in the Palestinian territory since the war began.
UN chief Antonio Guterres “was deeply saddened to learn of the death of a United Nations Department of Safety and Security (DSS) staff member and injury to another DSS staffer when their UN vehicle was struck as they traveled to the European Hospital in Rafah,” said his deputy spokesperson Farhan Haq.
It was “the first international casualty” for the UN since the start of the Israeli offensive in Gaza in retaliation for the Hamas attack of October 7, Haq said, recalling that some 190 Palestinian UN employees have been killed, mainly staff of the UN Palestinian Refugee Agency (UNRWA).
“The Secretary-General condemns all attacks on UN personnel and calls for a full investigation,” Haq said.
The spokesman did not immediately release the nationality of the person killed.
“I don’t have the full details of whether this was part of a large convoy or not, I believe it was in a convoy that was moving, and this was the DSS vehicle that was hit,” he said.
The DSS oversees the security of UN agencies and programs in more than 130 countries around the world.
Hezbollah chief urges Beirut to allow Syrian migrant boats to leave for Europe
- Hassan Nasrallah called for ‘a national decision that says: we have opened the sea... whoever wants to leave for Europe, for Cyprus, the sea is in front of you. Take a boat and board it’
- Cyprus, the EU’s easternmost member, is less than 200 kilometers (125 miles) from Lebanon and Syria, and wants to curb migrant boat departures from Lebanon toward its shores
BEIRUT: Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah on Monday urged Lebanese authorities to open the seas for migrant boats to reach Europe, amid soaring anti-Syrian sentiment and accusations the West is seeking to keep refugees in Lebanon.
His remarks came in an apparent bid to pressure the European Union after it announced earlier this month $1 billion in aid to Lebanon to help tackle irregular migration.
Many in crisis-hit Lebanon have criticized the aid package as focused on preventing refugees from leaving the country, amid mounting calls for them to return home.
In a televised address, Nasrallah called for “a national decision that says: we have opened the sea... whoever wants to leave for Europe, for Cyprus, the sea is in front of you. Take a boat and board it.”
But “we do not propose forcing displaced Syrians to board boats and leave for Cyprus and Europe,” he added in the speech, broadcast on the group’s Al-Manar television channel.
Cyprus, the EU’s easternmost member, is less than 200 kilometers (125 miles) from Lebanon and Syria, and wants to curb migrant boat departures from Lebanon toward its shores.
Currently refugees “are prohibited (from leaving), and so they turn to smuggling and to rubber boats, and there are drownings in the sea, because the Lebanese army is implementing a political decision to stop them from migrating,” Nasrallah added.
Lebanon says it currently hosts around two million people from neighboring Syria — the world’s highest number of refugees per capita — with almost 785,000 registered with the United Nations.
Lebanon needs to tell the West that “we all have to coordinate with the Syrian government to return the displaced to Syria and to present them with aid there,” Nasrallah said.
He also urged Lebanon’s parliament to press the EU and Washington to lift sanctions on Syria that Damascus says are blocking aid and reconstruction efforts, adding: “If sanctions on Syria aren’t lifted, there will be no return” of refugees.
Nasrallah’s remarks came a day before Lebanon is expected to resume “voluntary returns” of Syrians, with dozens of families set to pass through two land border crossings in the country’s east, a year and a half after such returns were paused.
Lebanon’s economy collapsed in late 2019, turning it into a launchpad for migrants, with Lebanese joining Syrians and Palestinian refugees making perilous Europe-bound voyages.
Some Lebanese politicians have blamed Syrians for their country’s worsening troubles, and pressure often mounts ahead of an annual conference on Syria in Brussels, with ministers meeting this year on May 27.
Rights groups including Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch have warned that Syria is not safe for returns.
No pollution from ship hit by Houthis in Red Sea, Yemeni minister says
- A Yemeni government official told Arab News on Monday that the UN team, made up of experts from various UN bodies, informed the Aden-based Yemeni government that rescuing the ship was “impossible”
AL-MUKALLA: Yemen’s Water and Environment Minister Tawfeeq Al-Sharjabi said his ministry found no signs of pollution from a ship filled with fertilizer and gasoline that sunk in the Red Sea.
“No leakage has come from the vessel yet, although it remains an environmental concern at all times,” the Yemeni minister told Arab News. He urged the world to assist the war-torn country in recovering the vessel.
In February, Yemen’s Houthi militia fired missiles at the Belize-flagged and Lebanese-operated MV Rubymar, which was carrying 22,000 tonnes of ammonium phosphate-sulfate NPS fertilizer and more than 200 tonnes of fuel while sailing in the Red Sea, severely damaging it and causing a large oil slick in the sea.
The ship eventually sank, prompting warnings from authorities as well as local and international environmentalists that the ship’s cargo could seep into the water or explode.
The Houthi attack on the ship was part of a larger operation targeting naval and commercial ships in the Red Sea, Bab Al-Mandab Strait and the Gulf of Aden, which the Yemeni militia claims is in support of the Palestinians.
At the same time, a UN team that examined the sinking ship in March concluded that it could not be recovered owing to the expense and a lack of equipment, suggesting that the ship be left to sink.
A Yemeni government official told Arab News on Monday that the UN team, made up of experts from various UN bodies, informed the Aden-based Yemeni government that rescuing the ship was “impossible” and advised the Yemeni government to continue monitoring the ship via a remotely operated vehicle, as well as the country’s coastline for signs of pollution.
“The UN team said that they hoped the ship would sink to the bottom of the sea and that the leaking would occur in stages, allowing the fertilizer to disintegrate and causing no harm. Their primary fear is that the leak may occur in a single day,” a Yemeni government official said, adding that recovering the ship would be more difficult the deeper it sank.
As for the ship’s fuel load, the UN team believed that it would not do much harm if it spilled into the water gradually, but they did not rule out the option of sucking it from the ship via pipes, the Yemeni official said.
Meanwhile, the US Central Command said that its forces on Sunday shot down a drone over the Gulf of Aden that was launched by the Houthis from regions under their control. The Houthis have not claimed credit for the new wave of drones and ballistic missiles intercepted by the US-led maritime coalition in the Red Sea since Thursday.
This comes as the EU mission in the Red Sea, known as Eunavfor Aspides, said on Monday that a Dutch warship, HNLMS Karel Doorman, has joined its fleet of ships in the Red Sea to safeguard commercial ships against Houthi attacks.
“We thank the Netherlands for their swift and precious contribution. EUNAVFOR ASPIDES is getting stronger,” the EU mission said in a post on X.
Turkiye’s Erdogan hosts Greek PM, sees ‘no unsolvable problems’ in bilateral ties
- “Despite disagreements, we focus on a positive agenda by keeping our dialogue channels open,” Erdogan said
- “We showed today that alongside our proven disagreements, we can chart a parallel page of agreements,” Mitsotakis said
ANKARA/ATHENS: Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan told Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis during talks in Ankara on Monday that there were “no unsolvable problems” between their countries.
Turkiye and Greece, NATO allies and historic foes, have long been at odds over issues including maritime boundaries, energy resources in the eastern Mediterranean, flights over the Aegean Sea, and ethnically split Cyprus.
After years of tensions that brought the two to the brink of conflict, they have started taking high-profile steps to improve ties, especially since both leaders were re-elected last year.
“Despite disagreements, we focus on a positive agenda by keeping our dialogue channels open,” Erdogan told a joint press conference with Mitsotakis.
Mitsotakis said the leaders’ frequent meetings in recent months had “proved that we neighbors can establish an approach of mutual understanding, not as an exception but as a productive normality.”
“We showed today that alongside our proven disagreements, we can chart a parallel page of agreements,” he added.
Erdogan visited Athens last December and the two countries signed the “Declaration of Athens” aimed at setting the base for a roadmap to rebooting relations.
They agreed to boost trade, keep communication channels open, carry out military confidence-building measures to reduce tensions, and work on problems that have kept them apart.
The two leaders disagreed over how to classify the Palestinian militant group Hamas. Erdogan reiterated his view that it is a “resistance movement” and said he was saddened by the Greek view — shared by many other Western countries — that it is a terrorist organization.
“Let’s agree to disagree,” Mitsotakis replied.
“Unprecedented heights”
On Sunday, Mitsotakis told Turkish daily Milliyet that his visit to Ankara — the first in five years — was an opportunity to evaluate progress and to reiterate Athens’ commitment to improving ties.
Erdogan, speaking to Greek daily Kathimerini on Sunday, said the main goal was to “raise the level of our bilateral relations to unprecedented heights,” adding the neighbors had many issues they could agree on while seeking solutions to their problems.
However, the allies remain at loggerheads over several issues including maritime jurisdiction.
Greece’s plan to build a marine park in the Aegean, which it says is for environmental purposes, has upset Turkiye, while Athens was annoyed by Turkiye’s decision to turn the ancient Chora church, previously a museum for decades, into a mosque.
