Péter Szijjártó, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade, said Hungary supports an investigation into the alleged involvement of some employees of the UN’s agency aiding Palestinians in Hamas’s terrorist attacks against Israel last October.
Following an informal meeting of the EU’s foreign affairs council, the foreign minister said “a heated debate” had developed over the question of whether funding for the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) should be suspended or delayed over the issue. “I think that our common goal must be to prevent a humanitarian disaster. And our common goal must also be to prevent that innocent people should suffer, and to ensure that food, water and medicine supplies reach the civilian population,” said the foreign minister. “It is however absolutely unacceptable, in fact intolerable, if employees of a UN organisation take part in any action or the operation of a terrorist organization in any form,” he added. Minister Szijjártó said that given the gravity of the claim, a probe must be launched “instead of jumping at the EU commissioner over initiating an investigation”.