The director of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) for Lebanon, Dorothee Klaus, in Beirut, Lebanon, on Jan. 29, 2025. (Credit: Emilie Madi/Reuters)
Activities of the United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) in Lebanon 'will not be affected by the suspension of U.S. aid payments nor by the new Israeli law banning its presence and operations in Palestinian territories,' said Dorothee Klaus, the director of the agency in Lebanon, to Reuters on Thursday.
'Currently, UNRWA does not receive any aid from the United States, so there is no direct impact from the recent decisions concerning the United Nations system for UNRWA,' she stated during a press conference in Beirut.
U.S. aid to UNRWA was suspended last year and until March 2025, following an agreement between U.S. lawmakers. This decision follows Israel's accusation that 12 of the 13,000 UNRWA employees in the Gaza Strip participated in the deadly attacks carried out by Hamas against Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, an event that triggered war in the Palestinian enclave.
The UN specified that it had dismissed nine UNRWA staff members suspected of being involved in this affair and promised to investigate all accusations. Dorothee Klaus added that UNRWA Lebanon had also placed four of its employees on administrative leave as part of an investigation into allegations that they violated the United Nations' principle of neutrality.
An UNRWA teacher had already been suspended last year, and a Hamas commander in Lebanon, killed in September during an Israeli strike, was among the UN organization's employees.
She also emphasized that there was "no direct impact" on the agency's operations in Lebanon following the new Israeli law banning UNRWA activities in East Jerusalem, the West Bank, and the Gaza Strip, while stating that the agency 'will continue its operations fully in Lebanon.'
In October, the Israeli parliament decided to ban UNRWA from operating on Israeli soil, including in East Jerusalem, a sector of the holy city occupied and annexed by Israel since 1967, and to coordinate with Israeli authorities. The ban is set to take effect at the end of January.
UNRWA provides assistance, health services, and education to millions of people in Palestinian territories and in neighboring Arab countries, namely Syria, Lebanon, and Jordan. Its Commissioner-General, Philippe Lazzarini, stated on Tuesday that UNRWA was subject to a "fierce disinformation campaign" aimed at "portraying the agency as a terrorist organization."
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