EU diplomat says defunding U.N. Palestinian agency would be dangerous

The European Union’s top diplomat said on Sunday cutting funds to UNRWA would put hundreds of thousands of lives at risk, amid allegations some of the U.N. Palestinian refugee agency’s staff were involved in the Oct. 7 Hamas attacks on Israel.
A string of countries, including the United States, Britain and Italy, have paused funding to the aid agency, which has opened an investigation into several of its thousands of employees and severed ties with those people.
UNRWA on Thursday said its entire operations in the Middle East, not only in Gaza, will likely be forced to shut down by the end of February if its funding remains suspended.
“Defunding UNRWA would be both disproportionate and dangerous,” EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell wrote in a blog post.
“The wrongdoing of individuals should never lead to the collective punishment of an entire population,” he said.