The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA), considered a lifeline for two million people in the besieged enclave, has suffered funding cuts after several of its employees were accused by Israel of involvement in the October 7 Hamas attack.

The United Nations said Saturday that it had terminated nine of 12 staff members as a result of the allegations and vowed to hold its staff accountable. But they expressed shock at the rapid cuts in funding by several Western countries due to a humanitarian disaster in the devastated Gaza Strip nearly four months of Israel’s air and ground war.

“It would be immensely irresponsible to sanction an agency and an entire community it serves over allegations of criminal acts against some individuals, especially at a time of war, displacement and political crises in the region,” said Philippe Lazzarini, UNRWA- Chief made a statement on Saturday.

The UN and Palestinian officials did called for further funding for the agency’s “critical work” since the claims were announced on Friday.

Here’s what you need to know about the controversy.

What is UNRWA and who funds it?

The acronym stands for “United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East”. It was founded in 1949 to serve tens of thousands of Palestinians ethnically displaced from their homes by Jewish militias from areas now part of Israel.

The U.N. agency operates in the occupied West Bank, East Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip, as well as in Jordan, Lebanon and Syria – the neighboring countries where the Palestinian refugees sought refuge after their violent expulsion known as the Nakba, or catastrophe.

According to its website, the UN agency supports the assistance and human development of Palestinian refugees and works in a number of areas.

Examples of these areas include basic and vocational education, primary health care, relief and social services, infrastructure and warehouse improvement, microfinance and emergency assistance.

According to UNRWA, the organization is funded almost entirely by voluntary contributions, apart from a limited UN grant used exclusively for administrative costs.

UNRWA’s work could not be carried out without sustained contributions from countries worldwide and the European Union, which accounted for 94.9 percent of all contributions in 2022, the agency said.

In 2022, 44.3 percent of the agency’s total commitments, or $1.17 billion, came from EU member states, which contributed $520.3 million, including funds provided by the institution through the European Commission.

The US, Germany, the EU and Sweden were the largest individual donors that year, contributing a total of 61.4 percent of the agency’s total funding.

Chris Gunness, a former UNRWA spokesman, said the UN agency had just weeks left before it ran out of money for its vital relief work saving Palestinian lives in Gaza. More than 26,000 Palestinians have been killed since Israel launched its offensive on October 7.

“My message to the Arab world, especially the Gulf, is: Where are you? Because they make billions every day from oil revenues. A tiny fraction of these oil revenues would cause UNRWA’s financial problems to disappear overnight. “This unreasonable gap that these Western countries have left would be filled very quickly,” Gunness told Al Jazeera.

“Some of the most desperate people in the Middle East are now at risk of starvation, they are facing famine, and Arab states must rise to the challenge.”

What allegations does Israel make against UNRWA employees?

UNRWA said on Friday that Israeli authorities had provided the organization with information about the suspected involvement of several UNRWA employees in the October 7 attack.

Lazzarini, the head of UNRWA, said he immediately terminated the contracts of these employees and launched an investigation to immediately find out the truth.

The US State Department said it was extremely concerned about the allegations, which allegedly involved 12 UNRWA employees.

The UN agency has long been under attack by Israel. On Saturday, Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz called on Lazzarini to resign from his post.

“Mr Lazzarini, please resign,” Katz wrote on the social media platform X in response to the UNRWA chief’s warning about the consequences of funding cuts.

Gunness, the former UNRWA spokesman, said there was a “coordinated political attack” on the UN agency for Palestinian refugees.

“The Israelis have declared that they cannot win the war against Gaza unless UNRWA is disbanded. What clearer signal do you want?” he told Al Jazeera on Sunday.

How important is UNRWA and what have UN officials said?

UNRWA is the largest humanitarian actor in the Gaza Strip and around 3,000 of its 13,000 core staff in the Gaza Strip continue to report on duty despite the war, according to the agency.

Lazzarini from UNRWA said Two million people out of Gaza’s approximately 2.3 million inhabitants depend on the organization’s humanitarian aid.

“I am shocked that such decisions are being made based on the alleged behavior of a few individuals and as the war continues, distress increases and famine threatens,” the UNRWA chief posted on X.

“The Palestinians in Gaza did not need this additional collective punishment. This taints us all.”

The UN official added that the organization operates shelters for over a million people, including providing food and basic medical care Climax of hostilities.

Meanwhile, UN chief Antonio Guterres said the tens of thousands of people working for UNRWA, many in some of the most dangerous situations, should not be punished because of the latest allegations.

“The urgent needs of the desperate populations they serve must be met,” he said.

UNRWA’s life-saving assistance is about to end after countries decided to cut their funding to the organization.

Our humanitarian response, which two million people in Gaza rely on as a lifeline, is collapsing. I am shocked that such decisions are made based on the alleged behavior of a…

— Philippe Lazzarini (@UNLazzarini) January 27, 2024

Which countries have cut funding for UNRWA? Which not?

The wave of funding suspensions began in the US on Friday, immediately after the investigation was announced.

Canada, Australia, Britain, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Switzerland and Finland joined Washington in the last two days.

However, Ireland and Norway expressed their continued support for UNRWA, saying the organization was doing important work to help displaced Palestinians in urgent need of assistance in Gaza.

“We must distinguish between what individuals may have done and what UNRWA stands for,” the Norwegian government said in a statement, adding that the organization’s tens of thousands of employees in Gaza, the West Bank and the region are a “ “decisive role” played. in distributing relief supplies, saving lives and safeguarding basic needs and rights.

Irish Foreign Minister Michael Martin wrote on X: “Ireland has no plans to suspend funding for UNRWA’s vital Gaza work.”