TRANSCRIPT
The United Nations says nine employees of its agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA, may have been involved in the October 7 attack on southern Israel by Hamas.
It launched the investigation after Israel claimed 12 UNRWA staff took part in the attacks which triggered the most recent war in Gaza.
Israel intensified its accusations in March, saying more than 450 UNRWA staff were military operatives in Gazan militant groups.
UN spokesman Farhan Haq says those nine members of staff have been dismissed but the organisation will need to evaluate any further steps to fully corroborate the allegations.
“The OIOS investigation involved the following: visits to Israel for discussions with Israeli officials and to receive and review information held by Israeli authorities; visits to Amman to obtain and review information held by UNRWA relevant to the investigation, including on UNRWA staff and UNRWA operations. However, one thing I'd like to point out is that since information used by Israeli officials to support the allegations have remained in Israeli custody, OIOS was not able to independently authenticate most of the information provided to it.”
It comes after the UN's monitoring office, the Office of Internal Oversight Services, completed its investigation into the allegations earlier this year by Israel that a total of 19 UNRWA employees may have been involved in the attack.
UNWRA suggested in March some employees released into Gaza from Israeli detention reported having been pressured by Israeli authorities into falsely stating the agency has Hamas links and that staff took part in the October attacks.
United States Secretary of State Antony Blinken has weighed in on the escalating tensions in the Middle East at an event with visiting Foreign Minister Penny Wong.
He says the US is working around the clock to prevent an escalation of conflict.
“All parties must take steps to ease tensions. Escalation is not in anyone's interests. It will only lead to more conflict, more violence, more insecurity. It's also critical that we break this cycle by reaching a ceasefire in Gaza. That, in turn, will unlock possibilities for more enduring calm, not only in Gaza itself, but in other areas where the conflict could spread.”
Foreign Minister Penny Wong supported that message.
“Australia joins with the United States call for de-escalation. We endorse again, the ceasefire that President Biden has placed on the table, which has U.N. Security Council endorsement. And we join with the secretary in the comments he's made about a cycle of violence, the cycle of violence continuing, leads us to simply more violence, more conflict, more insecurity, and more lives lost.”
Meanwhile in Gaza, authorities say the Israeli military has returned almost 90 Palestinian bodies to the strip.
The Nasser Hospital in Gaza’s southern city of Khan Younis says 89 bodies have been handed over at the Kerem Shalom crossing.
The director of the Palestinian Civil Emergency Service in Khan Younis says the bodies will be buried in a mass grave.
At the cemetery, workers say the Israeli military contacted them to transport the bodies from the Kerem Shalom crossing between Gaza and Israel.
“Unfortunately, the identities of these martyrs were not identified because the Israeli occupation sent them after working to change the appearance and markings of the bodies. Before they were recovered and their graves were exhumed by the Israeli occupation, these bodies were known and buried in official cemeteries, and were in records and had numbers. They were known to the governmental entities.”
