The U.N. agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA, has accused the Israeli military of beating and waterboarding some of its staff held in Israeli prisons. UNRWA states in a new report, “Agency staff members have been subject to threats and coercion by the Israeli authorities while in detention, and pressured to make false statements against the Agency, including that the Agency has affiliations with Hamas and that UNRWA staff members took part in the 7 October 2023 atrocities.”
UNRWA has faced a crisis ever since Israel accused a number of UNRWA staff workers of taking part in the October 7 attacks. Although Israel did not share evidence to back up its claim, many countries, including the United States, cut off funding to UNRWA despite Gaza’s catastrophic humanitarian crisis. In recent days Sweden and Canada resumed funding.