The US envisions UNRWA having a key role in managing the civilian life in the Gaza Strip after the war concludes, a State Department spokesperson told Israel Hayom on Thursday, despite many reports on its misconduct and incitement against Israel by the UN agency, whose official name is the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA).
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"UNRWA continues to deliver critical assistance in Gaza and remains a trusted US partner. UNRWA will be a central pillar of stability in post-war Gaza, and we strongly support it," the spokesperson said. An additional source in the National Security Council also made a similar statement.
The remarks come ahead of a hearing to be held in the US Congress next week regarding UNRWA's involvement with and ties to Hamas. The hearing will take place following the recent reports showing that the agency teachers' Telegram group praised the Jerusalem Oct. 7 atrocities against Israel.
Video: Families of the hostages camp outside the prime minister's home / Yehonatan Shaul
The discussion will be held next Tuesday in the House Committee on Foreign Affairs at the initiative of Congressmen Brian Mast and Chris Smith under the title "UNRWA Exposed: Examining the Agency's Mission and Failures."
Among those who will testify are Hillel Neuer, the executive director of UN Watch, which exposed the inciting Telegram group; Richard Goldberg, a senior advisor at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies; and Marcus Sheff, CEO of the Institute for Monitoring Peace and Cultural Tolerance in School Education (IMPACT-se), which who revealed problematic content in UNRWA textbooks.
In addition to agency teachers' support for the massacre and inciting content against Israel in the education system, the IDF exposed dozens of testimonies during the war on the use of the UN agency by Hamas in their terrorist acts against Israel.
These included UNRWA sandbags used for tunnel construction, schools from which or near which rocket launchers were placed, and tunnel shafts. Hamas operatives also control UNRWA institutions in the strip – as Gaza residents told IDF officers.
While Israel is trying to get rid of UNRWA, the Biden administration intends to tighten cooperation with it.
Contrary to rumors circulating among NGOs dealing with "the day after" that suggest that the administration intends to replace UNRWA with another agency, a State Department spokesperson appears to confirm there is no such plan.
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