US urges donors to abandon UNRWA funding as UN defends agency's mission

The United Nations defended its appeal for countries to keep funding the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), after the United States argued that donors should stop supporting an agency it claims has been infiltrated by Hamas and instead direct its money toward the Security Council-backed Board of Peace. Speaking at UNRWA’s annual pledging conference in early July, U.S. Ambassador Jeff Bartos accused member states of repeating a failed approach