Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images
As Israel prepares to expand its military operation in the southern Gaza city of Rafah, U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Linda Thomas-Greenfield told NPR that Israel has an obligation to keep civilians safe and that under the current circumstances, it will not conduct military operations there. He said he was planning it. “Cannot proceed.”
The flow of humanitarian aid continues to lag behind the needs of the estimated 1.5 million Palestinians who have taken refuge in Rafah.
Meanwhile, UNRWA, the primary agency for relief efforts on the ground, continues to be embroiled in scandal.
On Saturday, the Israeli military said it had discovered a network of Hamas tunnels beneath its headquarters in the Gaza Strip. UNRWA Secretary-General Philippe Lazzarini said UNRWA did not know what was underneath the building and that the allegations “required an independent investigation.”
The beleaguered organization faces a funding crisis as its largest donor countries, including the United States, cut off funding. This comes in response to Israeli accusations that 12 UNRWA staff were directly involved in the October 7 Hamas attack that killed about 1,200 people in Israel.
In an interview with NPR diplomatic correspondent Michele Kelemen on Friday, Thomas-Greenfield discussed the U.S. position on Israel's plans to step up military operations in Rafah and efforts to ensure humanitarian aid continues to reach civilians on the ground. spoke about it.
This interview has been lightly edited for length and clarity and includes expanded web-only questions and answers.
Interview Highlights
Michelle Clement: Israel appears to be turning its attention to the south, to Rafah, where hundreds of thousands of Palestinians are sheltered and already displaced by the fighting. What limits does the United States set for Israel? Because I know we've heard a lot of concerns from the United Nations about that situation.
Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield: Look, we have made it clear that the current situation in Rafah does not allow for military operations to proceed in that area. And this will dramatically worsen the humanitarian emergency that we are all trying to alleviate right now. Israel has an obligation to ensure the safety of civilians and the civilian population and to ensure that they have access to humanitarian assistance and basic services. And I think I heard it from my secretary, [Antony Blinken,] Make those statements clear during the meeting and in your conversations with the media when he is there.
Jack Guez/AFP via Getty Images
gentle: And the UN must be very concerned about this, right?
Thomas-Greenfield: I hear those concerns every day. And what we have tried to do is to keep our colleagues informed of what is happening on the ground and to avoid taking action in the Security Council that could jeopardize the very sensitive negotiations that will lead to what we hope will be broad-based negotiations. Stop the fighting, allow hostages to return to their families, and provide humanitarian assistance to Palestinians in desperate need.
gentle: Regarding UNRWA, the UN agency that supports Palestine, is the United States satisfied with the steps UNRWA is taking to investigate claims that some of its staff actually participated in the October 7 Hamas attack? And will the United States ensure that UNRWA's funding does not run out?
Thomas-Greenfield: See, the United States has always been a strong supporter of the humanitarian programs promoted by UNRWA. And over the past few weeks, we have been deeply saddened and disappointed to learn that individuals working for UNRWA were involved in the heinous attack of 7 October. So we paused support for a while.
However, we continue to work with the UN on the investigation. We understand that the United Nations Office of Investigation is currently investigating those involved in the attack. And the Secretary-General has just announced a committee of three Nordic NGOs who will work with the former. [French] credit [Catherine] Colonna addressed some of the reforms and neutrality of UNRWA moving forward.
So we will continue to support these efforts and we will continue to find ways to provide the humanitarian assistance that the Palestinian people need.
UNRWA is the only international organization with the capacity and infrastructure to provide such support. So whether it's funding from the United States or funding from other countries, we will continue to work to ensure that assistance flows to the people of Gaza.
gentle: But other people have stopped supporting it like you have, so I'm curious what message you're sending.
Thomas-Greenfield: We keep hearing that others followed our lead, while others saw what we saw on the ground and made their own independent decisions about what they wanted to do. However, we know that many countries and organizations have not yet stopped funding, and we have already mandated significant amounts of funding to UNRWA for the 2024 program. So we'll see what the results of the evaluation are and then decide how to move forward.
But let me be clear: We will find ways to continue providing humanitarian assistance to the Palestinian people.