Frozen U.S. Funding for UNRWA in Gaza Is Minimal, State Dept. Says

The State Division downplayed the importance on Tuesday of its determination to pause funding for the primary U.N. assist company in Gaza, explaining that it had already supplied nearly all the cash allotted by Congress for that objective and that the Biden administration hoped the matter could possibly be resolved shortly.

Greater than 99 p.c of American {dollars} authorised by Congress for the United Nations Aid and Works Company for Palestine Refugees, or UNRWA, has been despatched to the company, the State Division spokesman, Matthew Miller, mentioned on Tuesday.

The State Division paused the money “temporarily” on Friday after accusations by Israel {that a} dozen UNRWA staff participated within the Oct. 7 Hamas assaults, with some holding hostages inside Gaza. No less than 17 different donor nations have additionally suspended their funding to the company, according to the group U.N. Watch.

Human rights teams and progressive Democrats in Congress have denounced the transfer, saying that it’ll deprive harmless Palestinians of desperately wanted assist. However Mr. Miller mentioned the State Division had despatched all however $300,000 of about $121 million budgeted for UNRWA to the company, suggesting that the near-term impact of the U.S. motion inside Gaza will likely be minor.

U.S. officers steered that the actual query is how way more cash Congress will likely be keen to approve for an company that many Republicans condemn for what they name anti-Israel bias and Hamas sympathies. Underscoring that uncertainty, witnesses at a House subcommittee hearing on Tuesday denounced UNRWA and known as for its restructuring or substitute.

Israel’s authorities says that at least 12 employees of the agency participated in the Oct. 7 Hamas attack, and that UNRWA employs as many as 1,300 Hamas members. Israel estimates that the assault left roughly 1,200 individuals lifeless; one other 240 individuals have been taken hostage.

On Monday, Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken mentioned the US had not independently confirmed the costs however deemed them “highly credible.”

Earlier than the Israeli allegations, the State Division had deliberate to schedule its subsequent fee to UNRWA in early summer season, though a long-running finances standoff in Congress leaves it unclear when a brand new State Division finances could be authorised. And even then, the cash should win the assist of Republicans who have been hostile to UNRWA even earlier than its purported hyperlinks to the assault in Israel emerged.

Earlier than any new cash authorised by Congress reaches UNRWA, the State Division should finish its declared pause on any funding for the company. Mr. Miller mentioned the timing of that “will depend on the investigation that UNRWA is undertaking, that the United Nations is undertaking, and whatever steps they put into place.” He mentioned Biden administration officers hoped that would occur “quickly,” as a result of “we very much support the work that UNRWA does. We think it’s critical.”

His remarks got here amid anger on the determination by donor international locations to pause their assist to UNRWA. In a press release on Monday, Agnès Callamard, the secretary common of Amnesty Worldwide, mentioned it was “shocking, indeed inhumane,” that governments, together with the US, had paused their funding. She famous that the dozen staff, who’ve been fired, have been amongst an UNRWA workers of 30,000 individuals. (No less than 152 of the company’s workers members have been killed in Israel’s army operation in Gaza, in line with UNRWA.)

And several other progressives condemned the Biden administration’s transfer, together with Bernie Sanders, impartial of Vermont, who said in a statement on Tuesday that “we cannot allow millions to suffer because of the actions of 12 people. The U.S. and other countries must restore funding to stave off this humanitarian catastrophe.”

Whereas the quantity the US is withholding is a small fraction of UNRWA’s roughly $1.2 billion annual finances, company officers warn that funding freezes by quite a few donor international locations collectively might threaten the group’s humanitarian work. America has in most years been UNRWA’s largest single donor, however different donors collectively present many of the company’s annual finances.

In mid-October, President Biden additionally introduced $100 million in emergency assist for Palestinians in Gaza and the West Financial institution, which the White House said in a press release could be supplied “through trusted partners including U.N. agencies” and worldwide nongovernmental organizations.

In Washington, the query of UNRWA funding has acquired partisan overtones. Republicans have for years echoed Israeli complaints that UNRWA staff sympathize with Palestinian militants and have allowed weapons to be saved of their amenities. (UNRWA has denied many such accusations through the years.)

President Trump cut off all U.S. funding for UNRWA in 2018. Showing on Fox Information on Tuesday, Nikki Haley, a former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations who’s difficult Mr. Trump for the Republican presidential nomination, took credit score for persuading him. “I know UNRWA well,” she mentioned, arguing that faculties affiliated with the company taught “terrorist hate against Israelis.”

“For years, there has been extensive evidence that UNRWA is not a neutral arbiter, and that their anti-Israel bias is widespread and systemic,” the chairman of the Home International Affairs Committee, Consultant Michael McCaul of Texas, said in a statement final week. “Yet the Biden administration inexplicably restarted funding the organization in 2021.”

Mr. Blinken tangled with the thorny matter simply earlier than the Hamas assaults. Final fall, Republicans have been briefly blocking $75 million in meals help budgeted for UNRWA in Gaza. Amid warnings of mass starvation, Mr. Blinken circumvented the Republican maintain and freed the cash.

The State Division didn’t announce the motion publicly, however a U.S. department of UNRWA thanked Mr. Blinken on social media on Oct. 3. Hamas militants breached Gaza’s border fence with Israel 4 days later.