UNRWA was swept into controversy in January when Israel accused 12 of its 30,000 employees of being involved in the Hamas attack on Israel on October 7, which led to the deaths of around 1,160 people — mostly civilians —according to an AFP count based on official Israeli figures.
The U.N. immediately fired the implicated staff members and launched an internal investigation to assess the agency's neutrality, led by former French foreign minister Catherine Colonna.
An interim report found that "UNRWA has in place a significant number of mechanisms and procedures to ensure compliance with the Humanitarian Principle of neutrality," said UN spokesperson Florencia Soto Nino.
But investigators, who presented their findings to U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Tuesday, have "also identified critical areas that still need to be addressed."
The areas in need of fixes were not specified.
"The review group will now develop concrete and realistic recommendations on how to address these critical areas to strengthen and improve UNRWA," Soto Nino said.
She added that a final report on UNRWA will be presented to Guterres on April 20 and will be made public.
FILE — French Foreign and European Affairs Minister Catherine Colonna at the Quai d'Orsay in Paris, France, December 19, 2023.
Colonna interviewed UNRWA staff as well as Israeli and Palestinian officials as part of the investigation, which is being supported by three research groups: the Raoul Wallenberg Institute in Sweden, the Chr. Michelsen Institute in Norway and the Danish Institute for Human Rights.
Some 15 countries including the United States, Britain, Germany and Japan suspended funding to UNRWA following the Israeli allegations. Canada and Sweden, which were among those states, have since resumed sending aid to the agency.
UNRWA is the largest aid organization in Gaza, employing around 13,000 staff in the territory where Israel's bombardment has killed almost 32,000 people since October, according to figures from the Hamas-run health ministry.