March 8 (Reuters) - The U.N. agency for Palestinian refugees said some employees released into Gaza from Israeli detention reported having been pressured by Israeli authorities into falsely stating that the agency has Hamas links and that staff took part in the Oct. 7 attacks.
The assertions are contained in a report by the U.N. Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) reviewed by Reuters and dated February 2024 which detailed allegations of mistreatment in Israeli detention made by unidentified Palestinians, including several working for UNRWA.
UNRWA communications director Juliette Touma said the agency planned to hand the information in the 11-page, unpublished report to agencies inside and outside the U.N. specialised in documenting potential human rights abuses.
"When the war comes to an end there needs to be a series of inquiries to look into all violations of human rights," she said.
The document said several UNRWA Palestinian staffers had been detained by the Israeli army, and added that the ill-treatment and abuse they said they had experienced included severe physical beatings, waterboarding, and threats of harm to family members.
"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,” the report says.
UNRWA declined a Reuters request to see transcripts of its interviews containing allegations of coerced false confessions.
https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/unrwa-report-says-israel-coerced-some-agency-employees-falsely-admit-hamas-links-2024-03-08/
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In addition to the alleged abuse endured by UNRWA staff members, Palestinian detainees more broadly described allegations of abuse, including beatings, humiliation, threats, dog attacks, sexual violence, and deaths of detainees denied medical treatment, the UNRWA report said. OPERATIONS IN CRISIS UNRWA, which provides aid and essential services to Palestinian refugees, is at the centre of a crisis over Israeli allegations made in January that 12 of its 13,000 staff in Gaza took part in the Oct. 7 Hamas attack on Israel. The Israeli accusations led 16 countries including the United States to pause $450 million in UNRWA funding, throwing its operations into crisis. UNRWA fired some staff members, saying it acted in order to protect the agency's ability to deliver humanitarian assistance, and an independent internal U.N. investigation was launched. Norway, which has continued to finance the agency, said on March 6 that many countries that paused their funding are likely having second thoughts and payments could resume soon. Reuters could not independently confirm the accounts of coercion of UNRWA staff and mistreatment of detainees, although the allegations of ill-treatment accord with descriptions by Palestinians freed from detention in December, February and March reported by Reuters and other news media. Asked by Reuters for comment on the range of allegations in the report, an Israeli military spokesperson didn't specifically respond to allegations of UNRWA staff being coerced, but said the Israeli Defense Forces acts in accordance with Israeli and international law to protect the rights of the detainees.
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Concrete complaints of inappropriate behaviour are forwarded to the relevant authorities for review, and an investigation is conducted for each death of a detainee by the military police, the spokesperson said, adding Israel denies general and unsubstantiated claims about sexual abuse of detainees. The spokesperson said freed detainees are subject to Hamas' control and can be forced to denounce Israel or risk "harm". Responding to that assertion about the detainees' credibility, Touma said the report was based on "first-hand testimonies that people told us. In some cases there were clearly some physical impact on people's bodies. And also psychological impact. So this is what's also been documented." UNRWA provides education, health and relief services to about 5.7 million registered Palestinian refugees around the Middle East. The U.S. has been by far the biggest donor to its $1.4 billion annual budget. The Israeli army levelled new accusations at UNRWA on March 4, saying it employed over 450 "military operatives" from Hamas and other armed groups, and that Israel has shared this intelligence with the United Nations. INTERROGATION Later that day, the head of UNRWA warned of "a deliberate and concerted campaign" aimed at ending the agency's work, citing comments by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and destruction of the agency's infrastructure in Gaza. Asked about the latest Israeli accusations, Touma said UNRWA encouraged any entity with information on the allegations against UNRWA staff to share it with the investigation, which is being conducted by a U.N. oversight body. Touma told Reuters the document was based on interviews the agency had conducted with dozens of Palestinians freed from Israeli detention to whom UNRWA provided assistance.
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ISRAEL SEEKS UNRWA'S CLOSURE The report said UNRWA had documented the release of 1,002 detainees at Kerem Shalom aged from six to 82 years-old as of Feb. 19. The Hamas-led Oct. 7 assault killed 1,200 people in Israel and resulted in another 253 being abducted, according to Israeli tallies. More than 30,000 people have been killed in the Gaza Strip during the Israeli offensive launched in response, according to health authorities in Hamas-controlled Gaza. UNRWA has condemned the Oct. 7 attacks, saying the Israeli allegations against the agency - if true - are a betrayal of U.N. values and of the people UNRWA serves. The U.N. investigators said on Feb. 29 they expected to receive materials soon from Israel relating to its accusations that UNRWA staffers are members of Hamas. Israel says UNRWA should be shut down. Reuters has previously interviewed Palestinians detained by Israel during the conflict who have reported mistreatment. They include three men who said they and fellow detainees had been beaten, stripped to their underwear, and burnt with cigarettes. The copy of the report viewed by Reuters did not contain any photographs or identify any of the detainees by name.
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It's over. The jews lost.
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It never matters... None of this matters..>Nuh uh!! Its all so tiresome..
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>>1277602 Yeah OK. Sure. The palis, who use human shields, hospitals as bases , suicide kids and so on, were made to lie about unwra. OK. Sure.
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>>1277630 can you admit both sides might lie to benefit themselves?
Imo both sides are justifiable in their anger and violence as is usually the case with deep seeded conflicts...
Are we all to keep track of every injustice ever done and lay tenfold vengeance upon its perpetrators only to have the balance of powers shift and have that vengeance by wrought upon with tet more tenfold vengeance until kingdom come??
Peace is not a solution, but it is the mindset to drive for else all is waste.
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>>1277630 >hospitals as bases this is a proven lie. fuck off. Israel attacked a hospital because THEY built a military bunker under the hospital in the 80's.
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>>1277602 Muslim ancestors wrote a check for their own ass kicking, and the Jews didn't lose it. Now they're cashing in.
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>>1277636 >These poor poor terrorists can do no wrong :^) Anonymous
>>1277630 >>1277639 >>1277640 >boomers you'll be dead soon and no one will care about your precious gawds chosen ever again :)
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>>1277615 I hope they will get nuked, they deserve it and anyone who tolerates them.
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>>1277645 Kinda amazing the mental gymnastics leftoids do wrt Israel. Leftoids constantly talk about how America should give back land to Native Americans cause they were here first! We kicked them off the land! But somehow that doesn't apply to the Jews, somehow THEY'RE the colonists in leftoid minds, even though the Jews were in Israel first.
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>>1277652 Because in the deepest truth they’re just anti-European racists who see Jews as “the whites” and if you need proof just watch Whoopi Goldberg ape her way through what she thinks is a sophisticated WWII recap.
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>>1277635 Initially misread the end as “peace is the mildest solution” as my cat walked across me and I think that’s closer to reality.
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>>1277652 it's more confusing that israel sides with the far right when they know conservatives are have a bloodthirsty vendetta against jews, especially evangelicals who are using them to forward their schizophrenic eschatological predictions
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>>1277652 it's more confusing that israel sides with the far right when they know conservatives have a bloodthirsty vendetta against jews, especially evangelicals who are using them to forward their schizophrenic eschatological predictions
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>>1277670 anti-semitism is good for Israel because it forces Diaspora Jews to support them or immigrate to Israel.
As long as they have US backing it's in their interest.
genocided become geonociders
>>1277652 >America should give back land to Native Americans cause they were here first! We kicked them off the land! But somehow that doesn't apply to the Jews, that happen in 19th cent
this is the 21th cent and the world is watching.
If the US tried that today....Oh, they still do it, only they don't usurp the land, just control it.
the last 2 nations to try and genocide the people and usurp the land were Nazis and Afrikaners.
WTF zionists.
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>>1277652 Jews are white and white people cannot have land they used in the past.
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>>1277703 >the last 2 nations to try and genocide the people and usurp the land were Nazis and Afrikaners. Does the Burmese genocide that's happening right now not count or something? They're genociding Muslims as we speak to make way for ultra nationalist Buddhists.
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>>1277862 Since when has the world ever cared what happened in Bangladesh or Burma?
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>>1277924 The United States has close military relations with Bangladesh and Bangladesh severely mistreats the Islamic refugees. Not a peep from leftists. Shit hardly anyone knows there's about the genocide and other mistreatment of Burmese Muslims, or even where this shit is on a map. But they all suddenly care about Israel. It's hypocritical.
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>>1277939 >The United States has close military relations with Bangladesh Not doubting you really but do you have any kind of source for this? And don't fucking post wikipedia.
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>>1277941 We do military exercises together all the time, it's part of our strategy to counter Chinese influence in Asia.
https://www.state.gov/u-s-security-cooperation-with-bangladesh/ Anonymous
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>>1277941 There's literally nothing wrong with posting a wikishit for the purpose of showing a basic relationship.