The final communique from the G7 leading industrialized nations’ three-day summit in Italy also said that UNRWA, the United Nations aid agency for Palestinian refugees, must be allowed to work unhindered in war-torn Gaza.
Under the 1990s Oslo Accords, Israel collects tax revenue on behalf of the Palestinians, and it has used the money as a tool to pressure the Palestinian Authority, which administers some parts of the West Bank. Hamas violently expelled the PA from Gaza in 2007.
Israel has accused UNRWA, the largest employer in the Palestinian territories, of turning a blind eye to Hamas activities and employees of actively aiding terror groups.
The UN agency, which coordinates nearly all aid to Gaza, has been in crisis since January, when Israel accused about a dozen of the UNRWA’s 13,000 Gaza employees of involvement in the October 7 Hamas attack, when thousands of terrorists stormed southern Israel to kill some 1,200 people, most of them civilians, and take 251 hostages, sparking the war.
Israel’s accusations prompted many governments, including top donor the United States, to suspend funding to the agency, threatening its efforts to deliver aid in Gaza, although several have since resumed payments. READ MORE
An independent review of UNRWA, led by French former foreign minister Catherine Colonna, found some “neutrality-related issues” but said Israel had yet to provide evidence for its main allegations.