United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres said on Monday that he decided to form an independent committee to review and evaluate the work of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA).

The UN decision comes after Israel claimed that a number of agency employees participated in the “Al-Aqsa Flood” battle on October 7th.

A statement explained that former French Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna will chair the committee in cooperation with three research centers: the Raoul Wallenberg Institute in Sweden, the Mikkelsen Institute in Norway, and the Danish Institute for Human Rights.

For his part, UNRWA Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini welcomed the Secretary-General's decision, saying that the committee will work in conjunction with the investigations conducted by the agency.

Earlier Monday, UNRWA announced that its food aid convoy was exposed to Israeli naval fire, while it was waiting to move to the northern Gaza Strip.

The agency announced several times that its humanitarian aid convoys were subjected to Israeli bombing and harassment while they were delivering aid to different areas in the Gaza Strip.

In Doha, the Qatari Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdul Rahman Al Thani affirmed his country’s continued support for UNRWA, “which has doubled its responsibilities in light of the current catastrophic humanitarian situation that the innocent civilian population in the Gaza Strip is going through.”

The Qatari Prime Minister, during his meeting with the Commissioner-General of UNRWA, Philippe Lazzarini, warned of “the catastrophic repercussions that will result from stopping the agency’s funding,” calling for “a separation between the agency as an international institution with deep-rooted values ​​and traditions, and the allegations that have affected a number of its employees who are subject to To investigate.

Eighteen countries and the European Union decided to suspend their funding to UNRWA after Israeli allegations of the participation of 12 of the agency’s employees in the “Al-Aqsa Flood.”

UNRWA was established by a resolution of the United Nations General Assembly in 1949, and was authorized to provide assistance and protection to refugees in its five areas of operations, Jordan, Syria, Lebanon, the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, until a just solution to their problem is reached