JAPAN and Austria suspended their funding of the United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees today, joining a growing list of countries that have done so despite warnings that the situation in Gaza is “extremely desperate.”

The United States, Britain, Germany and Italy are also among 10 nations which have cut off financial support for UNRWA following claims that some of its employees were involved in the October 7 Hamas attack on southern Israel.

A document released by Israel lists 12 people with their alleged roles in the attack, job descriptions and photos.

It claims that at least 190 UNRWA workers were Hamas or Islamic Jihad operatives, without providing evidence.

UNRWA co-ordinates humanitarian aid in the Gaza Strip and employs some 13,000 people there, ranging from teachers in schools run by the agency to doctors and other medical staff.

It said it had sacked the workers accused of involvement in the Hamas attack, but the allegations were still under investigation.

The agency warned that it would not be able to continue operations across the region beyond the end of February if funding did not resume.

Israel has long accused UNRWA of helping to perpetuate the 76-year-old Palestinian refugee crisis by discouraging the resettlement of people displaced during the creation of Israel in 1948 and their descendants.

Some 1.7 million people rely on the agency, having been forced to flee their homes since the bombardment began.

UNRWA commissioner-general Philippe Lazzarini criticised the countries that have suspending aid, saying that their action amounted to “collective punishment” for the whole of Gaza and left the agency’s operations on the brink of collapse.

He said: “The abhorrent alleged acts of these staff members must have consequences.

“But the tens of thousands of men and women who work for UNRWA, many in some of the most dangerous situations for humanitarian workers, should not be penalised.

“The dire needs of the desperate populations they serve must be met.”

UNRWA spokeswoman Juliette Touma told the BBC: “We are extremely desperate. It has come at a time when the humanitarian needs in Gaza are growing by the hour.

“People continue to be displaced. People are hungry. The clock is ticking fast towards famine.

“This lack of funding that we have been faced with now, when at least 10 of the largest donors have put a temporary pause on the funding, is going to have very, very serious repercussions on what is, right now, the largest humanitarian operation in Gaza.”

This comes after the International Court of Justice, in considering the legal case brought against Israel by South Africa, dismissed Tel Aviv’s attempts to discredit UN statements on the situation in Gaza.