UNRWA, the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East, is on the brink of collapse. Since the October 7, 2023 attacks on Israel, the agency has come under suspicion, accused of being too close to the terrorist acts of Hamas. Many donor countries have suspended their financial contributions as a result. Philippe Lazzarini, the commissioner-general of UNRWA, is fighting body and soul for its survival. For one month, our reporters followed him across the United States, the Middle East and Europe in his race against time to find the funding for the activities and salaries of his thousands of employees. This is their special 24-minute report.
At the end of January, the accusation sent shockwaves: Israel claimed that 12 employees of UNRWA – a UN agency founded in 1949 – had participated, in one way or another, in the Hamas-led massacres of October 7, 2023, in which around 1,140 people were killed in Israel. The Israeli authorities have since failed to substantiate these claims. Several investigations are under way. But for the UN agency, a race against time had begun.
