Former French foreign minister Colonna to lead probe into UNRWA

DPA
·1 min read
A tanker of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) stands in line to enter the Palestinian territories from the Rafah border crossing. Gehad Hamdy/dpa
A tanker of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) stands in line to enter the Palestinian territories from the Rafah border crossing. Gehad Hamdy/dpa
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Former French foreign minister Catherine Colonna will lead a panel charged with investigating allegations levelled by Israel against the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA).

Colonna will work together with experts from the Raoul Wallenberg Institute in Sweden, the Michelsen Institute in Norway and the Danish Institute for Human Rights to investigate allegations against the agency, the United Nations announced on Monday.

Israel has accused several UNRWA employees of being involved in the October 7 terror attacks led by the Palestinian militant group Hamas. Several major Western donors to UNRWA, including the United States and Germany, temporarily suspended payments to the Gaza relief agency over the allegations.

Colonna's group is due to begin its work on February 14, with an interim report expected sometime before the end of March.

The expert panel is expected to consider whether UNRWA has violated measures aimed at maintaining the group's neutrality in the Gaza Strip, which had been ruled by Hamas since 2007.