Israel hasn’t provided proof that UNRWA staffers were terrorists, Independent review finds

“UNRWA provides needed services to the most desperate people among the Palestinians.” Chris Lu the Representative of the United States of America to the United Nations for Management and Reform was quoted as saying last October , adding ““In Gaza, there is simply no replacement for the critical role of… UNRWA. For years, UNRWA schools, clinics, and relief efforts have served as the only alternative to Hamas in Gaza.” An independent review published today found that Israel has not provided evidence of its claims that staff members of UNRWA were Hamas terrorists.

What we know

• An independent review published today found that Israel has not provided evidence of its claims that staff members for the U.N.’s agency on Palestinian refugees were Hamas terrorists.  Philippe Lazzarini, commissioner-general of UNRWA, said he welcomed the findings of an independent review into the agency’s practices. The report was published today after Lazzarini requested a probe into UNRWA’s neutrality  on the other hand Israel’s Foreign Affairs Ministry rejected the independent review despite the fact that  Israel has not provided evidence of its claims
• The intelligence chief of the Israel Defense Forces has resigned over failures surrounding the Hamas-led attack Oct. 7. Aharon Haliva becomes the first senior Israeli figure to step down over the attack, as the IDF faces mounting criticism at home and abroad.
• The U.S. is expected to impose sanctions on a unit of the Israeli military accused of human rights violations in the occupied West Bank, a move that Israeli leaders have vowed to reject and decried as “the height of absurdity.”
• In Gaza, doctors saved a baby from the womb of a woman who was killed alongside her husband and their other child in airstrikes on the southern city of Rafah. And in Khan Younis, civil defense officials said they had recovered more than 200 bodies from mass graves inside the Nasser Hospital complex.
• As tensions over the Israel-Hamas war continue to erupt in the U.S., Columbia University will hold classes virtually amid warnings from Jewish leaders about student safety, while police arrested pro-Palestinian protesters at a Yale University encampment.
• UC Berkeley became the first West Coast university to join a call for solidarity among colleges across the country to show their opposition to Israel’s military action in Gaza.
• At least three mass graves have been found at a hospital in the southern city of Khan Younis, and 283 bodies have so far been recovered from them, Gaza’s civil defense said in a statement today.The graves were found in the courtyard of the Nasser Medical Complex when Israeli forces withdrew, it said. Teams have been digging since Friday to recover the bodies.
• Netanyahu is under pressure from all sides as Israel’s reputation takes new hits

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