It has accused the agency of providing cover for Hamas militants, claiming that some UNRWA employees took part in the militant group’s Oct 7, 2023 assault on Israel, which sparked the war in Gaza.
A series of UN-linked internal and external investigations found some “neutrality-related issues” at UNRWA, but stressed Israel had not provided conclusive evidence for its headline allegation.
Grandi criticised the torrent of accusations that have swirled around the agency.
“UNRWA is a very indispensable organisation in the Middle East,” he said.
“Contrary to much of the frankly baseless rhetoric that we have heard in the past couple of years, UNRWA is a force for peace and stability,” he added.
“In a region in which you need every bit of stability and efforts towards peace, it would be really irresponsible to let such an important organisation decline further.”