Red Cross, no to the mandate to replace UNRWA in Gaza
The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) it does not have the mandate to replace the UN agency for the Palestinians (UNRWA) in Gaza. This was stated by ICRC general director Pierre Krahenbuhl in an interview with the Swiss newspaper The Temps, underlining that “the mandates are completely different.” The UNRWA’s mandate «derives from the UN General Assembly, that of the ICRC by the Geneva Convention. The ICRC cannot take over the mandate of UNRWA. We already have enough to do without replacing other organizations,” continued Krahenbuhl, who headed the UN agency for the Palestinians between 2014 and 2019.
UNRWA came under fire in January when Israel accused 12 of its 30,000 employees in the Strip of involvement in the October 7 Hamas attacks. The UN immediately fired the implicated staff members and launched an internal investigation. Last week, a report by an independent group led by former French Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna concluded that Israel failed to provide evidence to support the accusation that 10% of UNRWA employees have links to “terrorist organizations” such as Hamas.
