On Wednesday, Axios published a report saying that a group of Jewish Democratic representatives in the US House of Representatives discussed on Tuesday (1/30/2024) potential alternatives to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) to deliver aid to Gaza, in a meeting. With the Israeli military liaison official with Palestinian civilians.

The meeting comes after the United States and eight other countries stopped funding the Palestinian refugee agency after Israel accused a number of UNRWA employees of involvement in Hamas’ surprise attack on Israel last October 7.

UNRWA has been the main channel for humanitarian aid in Gaza since 1949.

According to the website, “Approximately eight to ten Jewish Democrats met with Colonel Elad Goren, a senior official in the IDF’s Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories unit, according to four members who were present at the meeting.”

Goren offered about six potential alternatives to UNRWA, including UNICEF and the United Nations World Food Programme, according to the lawmakers.

One member, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said: “The point he was trying to make is that we want there to be humanitarian aid, but UNRWA represents a problem. There must be alternatives. There are alternatives already, and these are the alternatives that we should "Use it."

The website attributes to Representative Dan Goldman (Democrat from New York State), who was present at the meeting, saying that he "hopes that we will take a look at those other international non-governmental organizations that may be able to help manage the humanitarian crisis and provide assistance to alleviate it.”

In turn, the Commissioner-General of UNRWA, Philippe Lazzarini, said in a statement on Saturday that it was “shocking” to see nine countries withdrawing their funding due to allegations against “a small group of employees.”

Lazzarini said the decision was particularly surprising given that the agency had taken "immediate action" by expelling the accused and opening an investigation.

“It would be highly irresponsible to impose sanctions on an agency and the entire community it serves over allegations of criminal acts against certain individuals, especially in a time of war, displacement and political crises in the region,” he said.

Linda Thomas-Greenfield, the US ambassador to the United Nations, said on Tuesday that “fundamental changes” must be made before funding resumes, but “we should not let that overshadow the great work that UNRWA is doing.”

According to the site, Goren claimed that Israel had done its best to facilitate the flow of aid to Gaza and repeated his public denial of the occurrence of mass starvation in the region.

One representative said: "He questioned the level of hunger and the availability of food, that there are still open markets operating, and that the Israelis are willing to send more aid."

Two lawmakers also cited stifling inspection restrictions as the main reason for not sending more aid to Gaza.

Goren said that Israel "is making great efforts to make sure that it does everything it can to find out who is involved with Hamas and who is truly a civilian," according to Goldman.

In turn, the official spokesman for the US State Department, Matthew Miller, said on Tuesday: “What I would like to say is, first and foremost, we have made clear our position in the statement we issued; you heard Secretary (Anthony Blinken) talking about this yesterday. We strongly support the work "What UNRWA is doing. We believe it is extremely important. There is no other humanitarian player in Gaza who can provide food, water and medicine to the scale that UNRWA does."

The spokesman added in his response to the Al-Quds correspondent’s question, “We want to see this work continue, and for this reason it is very important for the United Nations to take this issue seriously, investigate it, and for there to be accountability for anyone proven to be involved in committing violations, and to take further actions and appropriate measures to ensure this kind of thing does not happen again."