Israel escalates its criticism of a UN agency in Gaza. It says 450 of its workers are militants

Source: Associated Press

Israel escalates its criticism of a UN agency in Gaza. It says 450 of its workers are militants

BY TIA GOLDENBERG AND RAVI NESSMAN
Updated 3:43 PM EST, March 4, 2024

JERUSALEM (AP) — Israel ramped up its criticism of the embattled U.N. agency for Palestinian refugees Monday, saying 450 of its employees were members of militant groups in the Gaza Strip, though it provided no evidence to back up its accusation.

Major international funders have withheld hundreds of millions of dollars from the agency, known as UNRWA, since Israel accused 12 of its employees of participating in the Oct. 7 Hamas attacks on Israel that killed 1,200 people and left about 250 others held hostage in Gaza, according to Israeli authorities.

The U.N. envoy focusing on sexual violence in conflict, Pramila Patten, said Monday there were “reasonable grounds” to believe Hamas committed rape, “sexualized torture,” and other cruel and inhuman treatment of women during the attack.

The attack sparked an Israeli invasion of the enclave of 2.3 million people that Gaza’s Health Ministry says has killed more than 30,000 Palestinians. Aid groups say the fighting has displaced most of the territory’s population and sparked a humanitarian catastrophe.

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Read more: https://apnews.com/article/israel-hamas-war-news-03-04-2024-a93b77e949d3bdc459311fd84d0f90ba