The flap about UNRWA employees being also Hamas members and taking an active part in the October massacre continues to be major news. The portion of it that tries to make excuses for UNRWA shouldn’t be. There are real alternatives to UNRWA in every field. The best alternative in all of them is actually the Hamas government. Hamas spends more than half a billion on the military wing, which would go a long way toward making up for lost UNRWA funding. Instead of building tunnels they could invest in hospitals and schools. The “refugees” could be transferred to UNHCR with a special exemption for them being still inside their own country and some not being first generation. This would allow UNHCR to help them find new permanent homes elsewhere; something that UNRWA does not permit. WHO (World Health Organization) already has a presence in Gaza, and should replace Hamas as the employer of medical staff, WFP (World Food Program) could replace UNRWA in handling aid distribution, That could also remove Hamas from the current position of controlling the content of the aid trucks after they go through the Rafah Crossing from Egypt. UNRWA needs to be eliminated, and there was never a reason to keep the Palestinian refugees in a permanent hopeless status.
It is worth noting that UNHCR doesn’t deal with refugees who have acquired citizenship in another country. The only UNRWA refugees that were given such citizenship are those residing in Jordan. You should also know that the average income of UNRWA employees works out to $61 per hour. The minimum wage in the US is under $8 per hour.
Another young soldier from a neighboring village was killed in action yesterday. He will be buried in our local cemetery this afternoon. The IDF has lost just under 400 soldiers during this war. Another 59 police and less than a dozen Security Service personnel were also killed. Israeli sources report that Hamas terrorists killed number about 9,000 (not counting approximately 1000 killed during the invasion/massacre on October 7th). That would make the total losses of Hamas terrorists at almost 1/3 of their total pre-war strength.
Wetherhorn 