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US Cuts off Funding for UN Aid Agency in Gaza

A displaced Palestinian takes a break while on the move after the Israeli army asked residents of Khan Younis camp to leave their homes and go to Rafah camps near the Egyptian border, south of the Gaza Strip, 26 January 2024. (EPA)
A displaced Palestinian takes a break while on the move after the Israeli army asked residents of Khan Younis camp to leave their homes and go to Rafah camps near the Egyptian border, south of the Gaza Strip, 26 January 2024. (EPA)
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US Cuts off Funding for UN Aid Agency in Gaza

A displaced Palestinian takes a break while on the move after the Israeli army asked residents of Khan Younis camp to leave their homes and go to Rafah camps near the Egyptian border, south of the Gaza Strip, 26 January 2024. (EPA)
A displaced Palestinian takes a break while on the move after the Israeli army asked residents of Khan Younis camp to leave their homes and go to Rafah camps near the Egyptian border, south of the Gaza Strip, 26 January 2024. (EPA)

The Biden administration has temporarily suspended assistance to the UN agency for Palestinian refugees following allegations that some of its employees took part in the Oct. 7 Hamas attacks on Israel.  

The State Department said Friday it was “extremely troubled” by the allegations and had paused additional aid to the UN Relief and Works Agency pending a review of the claims and any action the UN takes to address them.  

It said Secretary of State Antony Blinken had spoken to UN chief Antonio Guterres on Thursday to inform him of the decision, which is a significant reversal from the administration’s past support for UNRWA.  

Blinken had visited UNRWA’s offices in Jordan just a month ago and praised the agency’s work in Gaza while lamenting the deaths of dozens of its employees in the conflict.  

“We welcome the decision to conduct such an investigation and Secretary General Guterres’ pledge to take decisive action to respond, should the allegations prove accurate,” the department said of the UN probe.  

“We also welcome the UN’s announcement of a ‘comprehensive and independent’ review of UNRWA. There must be complete accountability for anyone who participated in the heinous attacks of October 7,” it said.  

Shortly after taking office, the Biden administration resumed funding to UNRWA that had been cut off during Donald Trump’s presidency.

The head UNRWA said he fired several employees and ordered an investigation following Israel's allegation that some of the agency's staff took part in the October 7 attacks.

In a statement Friday, Philippe Lazzarini described the allegations as “shocking.” He said his agency condemns the attacks, in which militants killed about 1,200 people and took about 250 hostages. He called for the immediate and unconditional release of all hostages to their families.

Lazzarini said Israeli authorities provided his agency with information about the alleged involvement of several employees in the attacks. The refugee agency, which provides education, medical care and welfare services to hundreds of thousands of Gaza’s 2.3 million people, has tens of thousands of employees.

“Anyone who betrays the fundamental values of the United Nations also betrays those whom we serve in Gaza, across the region and elsewhere around the world,” Lazzarini said.

He said that in addition to the people fired, additional agency employees would be held accountable, including through criminal prosecution, if they were found to have been involved, he said.

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Cyprus Can Help Rid Syria of Chemical Weapons, Search for its Missing, Says Top Diplomat

FILE PHOTO: A UN chemical weapons expert, wearing a gas mask, holds a plastic bag containing samples from one of the sites of an alleged chemical weapons attack in the Ain Tarma neighborhood of Damascus August 29, 2013. REUTERS/Mohamed Abdullah
FILE PHOTO: A UN chemical weapons expert, wearing a gas mask, holds a plastic bag containing samples from one of the sites of an alleged chemical weapons attack in the Ain Tarma neighborhood of Damascus August 29, 2013. REUTERS/Mohamed Abdullah
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Cyprus Can Help Rid Syria of Chemical Weapons, Search for its Missing, Says Top Diplomat

FILE PHOTO: A UN chemical weapons expert, wearing a gas mask, holds a plastic bag containing samples from one of the sites of an alleged chemical weapons attack in the Ain Tarma neighborhood of Damascus August 29, 2013. REUTERS/Mohamed Abdullah
FILE PHOTO: A UN chemical weapons expert, wearing a gas mask, holds a plastic bag containing samples from one of the sites of an alleged chemical weapons attack in the Ain Tarma neighborhood of Damascus August 29, 2013. REUTERS/Mohamed Abdullah

Cyprus stands ready to help eliminate Syria’s remaining chemical weapons stockpiles and to support a search for people whose fate remains unknown after more than a decade of war, the top Cypriot diplomat said Saturday.

Foreign Minister Constantinos Kombos said Cyprus’ offer is grounded on its own past experience both with helping rid Syria of chemical weapons 11 years ago and its own ongoing, decades-old search for hundreds of people who disappeared amid fighting between Greek Cypriot and Turkish Cypriots in the 1960s and a 1974 Turkish invasion, The AP reported.

Cyprus in 2013 hosted the support base of a mission jointly run by the United Nations and the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) to remove and dispose of Syria's chemical weapons.

“As a neighboring country located just 65 miles from Syria, Cyprus has a vested interest in Syria’s future. Developments there will directly impact Cyprus, particularly in terms of potential new migratory flows and the risks of terrorism and extremism,” Kombos told The AP in written replies to questions.

Kombos said there are “profound concerns” among his counterparts across the region over Syria’s future security, especially regarding a possible resurgence of extremist groups like ISIS in a fragmented and polarized society.

“This is particularly critical in light of potential social and demographic engineering disguised as “security” arrangements, which could further destabilize the country,” Kombos said.

The diplomat also pointed to the recent proliferation of narcotics production like the stimulant Captagon that is interconnected with smuggling networks involved in people and arms trafficking.

Kombos said ongoing attacks against Syria’s Kurds must stop immediately, given the role that Kurdish forces have played in combating extremist forces like the ISIS group in the past decade.

Saleh Muslim, a member of the Kurdish Presidential Council, said in an interview that the Kurds primarily seek “equality” enshrined in rights accorded to all in any democracy.

He said a future form of governance could accord autonomy to the Kurds under some kind of federal structure.

“But the important thing is to have democratic rights for all the Syrians and including the Kurdish people,” he said.

Muslim warned that the Kurdish-majority city of Kobani, near Syria’s border with Türkiye, is in “very big danger” of falling into the hands of Turkish-backed forces, and accused Türkiye of trying to occupy it.

Kombos said the international community needs to ensure that the influence Türkiye is trying to exert in Syria is “not going to create an even worse situation than there already is.”

“Whatever the future landscape in Syria, it will have a direct and far-reaching impact on the region, the European Union and the broader international community,” Kombos said.