United Nations Information Center

Israel backs off accusations against UN refugee agency



Matthias Burchard, chief of the liaison office of UNRWA told journalists that an Israeli spokesperson for the Israeli army had retracted allegations in the past few days that UNRWA’s ambulances in Gaza might have been misused by Hamas and calls by Israel’s Permanent Representative to the UN in New York for the resignation of Peter Hansen, the Commissioner-General of UNRWA. UNRWA had maintained since the weekend that what was seen in the footage was a stretcher and not a rocket as alleged. UNRWA had been able to establish this in a matter of 24 hours, and it was very astonished that the IDF with its superior technology had not been able to do so.