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Israel criticized the United Nations' investigation mandate into UNRWA's actions, accusing it of being "too general".
"The mandate (of the investigation) as it stands currently is too general," denounced Israel's ambassador to the UN in Geneva, Meirav Shahar.
"It's not a mandate that allows verifying that you (UNRWA, note) will not deploy terrorists in the future, that you will not have infrastructures, hundreds of tunnels under UNRWA schools, under their main headquarters," she insisted on the sidelines of a hearing with UNRWA chief Philippe Lazzarini by the diplomatic corps in Geneva.
On February 5, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres announced the creation of an independent committee tasked with assessing the "neutrality" of UNRWA and its operations after accusations against several of its employees for participating in Hamas attacks in Israel on October 7.
"The mandate needs to be more concise; it must include experts who also have the capacity to verify counter-terrorism procedures and control. That's what we expect from the investigation," emphasized the Israeli ambassador, while indicating that her country will cooperate with the inquiry.
UNRWA has been at the center of controversy since Israel accused 12 of its 30,000 regional employees of involvement in the October 7 attack carried out by Hamas.
With AFP
"The mandate (of the investigation) as it stands currently is too general," denounced Israel's ambassador to the UN in Geneva, Meirav Shahar.
"It's not a mandate that allows verifying that you (UNRWA, note) will not deploy terrorists in the future, that you will not have infrastructures, hundreds of tunnels under UNRWA schools, under their main headquarters," she insisted on the sidelines of a hearing with UNRWA chief Philippe Lazzarini by the diplomatic corps in Geneva.
On February 5, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres announced the creation of an independent committee tasked with assessing the "neutrality" of UNRWA and its operations after accusations against several of its employees for participating in Hamas attacks in Israel on October 7.
"The mandate needs to be more concise; it must include experts who also have the capacity to verify counter-terrorism procedures and control. That's what we expect from the investigation," emphasized the Israeli ambassador, while indicating that her country will cooperate with the inquiry.
UNRWA has been at the center of controversy since Israel accused 12 of its 30,000 regional employees of involvement in the October 7 attack carried out by Hamas.
With AFP
This Is Beirut
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