U.S. Pauses Funding to U.N. Aid Agency in Gaza Over Alleged Ties to Hamas

The U.S. State Department said Friday it is halting new aid to a United Nations aid agency in Gaza until a probe can determine whether a dozen of its staff were part of the Oct. 7 raid by Hamas into Israel.

The organization at question is the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees, commonly known as UNRWA. The agency said Friday it had opened an investigation into whether some of its hundreds of staff members may have been a part of the October attack that left over a thousand Israelis dead and erupted the region into chaos.

A State Department statement said the U.S. is “extremely troubled” by the allegations, adding that Secretary of State Antony Blinken spoke to U.N. authorities on Thursday to “emphasize the necessity of a thorough and swift investigation of this matter.”

Read more at The Daily Beast.