Israeli Foreign Minister Yisrael Katz continued the campaign to demonize the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA), repeating Israeli allegations that the UN agency constitutes “part of the terrorist infrastructure of the Hamas movement,” while stressing that the Israeli authorities are “working to expel the agency from Gaza.” 

This came in a publication by the Israeli Minister of Foreign Affairs on the “X” website, following press reports that revealed a recommendation made by senior officers in the Israeli army to the Chief of Staff of the Army, Herzi Halevy, on the necessity of stopping the smear campaign led by the Israeli government against the UNRWA agency in light of There is no alternative to it at the present time.

The Israeli government is leading a smear campaign against the agency, claiming that about 12 of its employees participated in the attack of last October 7 carried out by the Hamas movement on Israeli military sites and towns, and claims that more than 190 employees belong to the “Hamas” or “Islamic Jihad” movements, which is prompted several countries to announce the cessation of their funding to the agency.

Israel Katz said, “UNRWA is part of the problem. Part of Hamas’ terrorist infrastructure in Gaza. And part of the Palestinian lie that there are ‘refugees’ (Palestinians) who need to return to the State of Israel. We are working to expel UNRWA from the Gaza Strip, "It is the problem, not the solution."

Following Katz's post, UNRWA said that "as the largest humanitarian organization in the Gaza Strip, we will do everything we can to continue our indispensable work to support people in Gaza. Despite repeated appeals, there is still no humanitarian ceasefire."

In turn, the Commissioner-General of UNRWA, Philippe Lazzarini, asked on Sunday whether “the UN agency was paying the price for raising its voice in drawing attention to the plight of the residents of the Gaza Strip, and to the humanitarian catastrophe unfolding before our eyes,” in a statement he made to the Financial Times newspaper and published a clip of it on the UN agency’s account via the “X” platform.

The Commissioner-General of UNRWA asked: “Are we paying the price for raising our voice in drawing attention to the plight of the people of Gaza, and to the humanitarian catastrophe unfolding before our eyes?” The UN official believed that this "contributed to directing, accelerating, or amplifying criticism of us."

As of last January 30, 18 countries and the European Union had decided to suspend funding for UNRWA, based on Israel’s allegations that 12 of the agency’s employees participated in the October 7, 2023 attack on Israeli settlements around the Gaza Strip.

On Saturday evening, Israeli Channel 12 revealed a letter sent by senior officers in the Israeli military establishment to the Army Chief of Staff, Halevy, in which it stated that the Israeli leaks, which prompted several countries to stop funding UNRWA, “took place in an unorganized and ill-considered manner, which may have negative consequences."

The letter stated, “In the short term, we recommend not escalating the process of distorting UNRWA, before the expected discussion in Congress, as well as until discussions are held to determine policies on this issue in the coming week, by the (Israeli) political level, and to discuss alternatives to the role of the agency.

The letter considered that “this campaign (against UNRWA) is like a snowball,” and that “the international campaign against the agency no longer depends on Israel, and there is nothing that can be done about it,” and pointed out that “the army’s policy in this regard has not yet been determined now, the political level must decide whether to press more to put an end to the organization after 75 years of its activity.”

The Ynet website indicated that the Deputy Director General of the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs conveyed the Israeli allegations regarding the involvement of 12 UNRWA employees in the attack of last October 7, to the Agency’s Commissioner General, during a routine meeting held on January 18, Without the knowledge of the Israeli army leadership.