The Australian government is in talks with close allies including the US and the UK to consider conditions to reinstate funding to a key United Nations agency delivering aid in Gaza.
The talks come after Australia and other donor countries met with the UN secretary general, António Guterres, in New York to discuss the investigations into UNRWA staffers over alleged involvement in the 7 October attacks on Israel.
More than 10 donor countries – including Australia, the US and the UK – suspended funding to UNRWA after Israel provided the agency with information alleging that as many as 12 of the agency’s staff were involved in the 7 October attacks.
The Australian foreign affairs minister, Penny Wong, said on Saturday she was “deeply concerned” by the allegations and would “temporarily pause disbursement” of $6m in humanitarian funding for UNRWA that she had announced in mid-January.
Australia’s ambassador to the UN, James Larsen, attended the meeting with Guterres in New York on Tuesday local time (Wednesday Australian time).
The UN secretary general implored donor countries to prevent UNRWA operations from being disrupted at a time of significant humanitarian need.
Since the allegations emerged, Australian officials have also held talks with the UNRWA commissioner general and attended a briefing by the agency’s deputy commissioner.
The Australian government has yet to publicly outline conditions it believes must be met before it reinstates funding to UNRWA, but Guardian Australia understands it is in talks with allies about the next steps. Australia is considered unlikely to move before allies such as the US and the UK.
The US is demanding the allegations against UNRWA staff be fully and thoroughly investigated and that measures be put in place to prevent any repeat if they are proven.
The Coalition has argued Australia should redirect funding to another agency such as the Red Cross, but the government’s current focus is believed to be on seeking sufficient assurances and protections that would allow UNRWA funding to resume.
Australian officials have previously acknowledged UNRWA is the only UN body with the mandate to provide relief and social services to Palestinian refugees.
“In Gaza, that role would otherwise be played by Hamas,” one official told Guardian Australia earlier this month.
The US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, said on Monday that UNRWA played “an absolutely indispensable role in trying to make sure that men, women, and children who so desperately need assistance in Gaza actually get it”.
Guterres’ meeting with Larsen and representatives of other donor countries focused on action being taken by the UN in response to the allegations.
That includes asking the UN Office of Internal Oversight Services (OIOS), the highest investigative body in the UN system, to mount an inquiry, and the decision to immediately sack staff implicated in the allegations.
Several ambassadors described the two-hour meeting as constructive.
China’s ambassador to the UN, Zhang Jun, said Guterres had shared information with donors about the individual accusations made against UNRWA staff.
“We are at a very critical moment in coping with the humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza and the war is still going on,” Zhang told reporters.
“We should not allow these individual cases to dilute our attention in pursuing a ceasefire.”
The Israeli government, which has long been critical of UNRWA, has argued the agency’s problems go deeper than the allegations surrounding 7 October involvement, and it should have no future role in Gaza.
Yoav Gallant, the Israeli defence minister, tweeted earlier this week: “Terrorism under the guise of humanitarian work is a disgrace to the UN and the principles it claims to represent.”
Anthony Albanese said on Monday he wanted to resume the funding “but there’s a pause on while this investigation takes place” and to ensure “protections are put in place”.
On Tuesday evening, Labor delegates in the Sydney FEC – which covers Tanya Plibersek’s inner-city electorate - passed a motion calling on the Australian government to urgently reinstate funding to alleviate “unprecedented human suffering” in Gaza.
The Sydney FEC motion also urged the government to take concrete steps to ensure Israel’s compliance with orders issued by the International Court of Justice last Friday “and to avoid Australian complicity in acts that could constitute genocide”.
The motion also unequivocally condemned “the bombing, killing and kidnapping of Israeli civilians by Hamas on 7 October 2023”.
The Barton FEC – which covers the electorate held by Linda Burney – also passed a motion on Tuesday night calling for the reinstatement of funds to UNRWA.
The demands are not binding on the federal government, which has repeatedly affirmed Israel’s right to self-defence following Hamas’s 7 October attack but that it must act in line with international law.
There is no suggestion that Plibersek or Burney were involved in preparing the motions.
Additional reporting by Reuters
