Officials at office of UNRWA in occupied Palestine have summoned the organization’s local director in the Gaza Strip over remarks that angered Palestinians.
Widespread Palestinian protests against Matthias Ishmael, director of the Palestinian Agency for Refugees (UNRWA) office in the Gaza Strip, and calls for his removal led to his summons to occupied Jerusalem.
A spokesman for UNRWA representatives in Occupied Palestine announced Wednesday evening that Ashmali and his deputy had been summoned to occupied Jerusalem to respond to allegations that he had been suspected of supporting the Zionist regime and provoking Palestinian anger.
Another UNRWA representative in occupied Palestine told Reuters that Lenny Stansted, UNRWA’s deputy commissioner general in the region, was currently leading the UN team in the Gaza Strip.
UNRWA director’s remarks in an interview with Israeli television channel 12 on May 22nd, in which he accepted Tel Aviv‘s claim that the airstrikes on the Gaza Strip were targeted and that no civilians were harmed, led to widespread Palestinian demonstrations in the Gaza Strip and elsewhere.
On Monday, a large number of UNRWA employees staged demonstrations in the Gaza Strip, condemning the northerners and calling for his resignation. Hundreds of Gaza Strip residents also joined UNRWA staff in protesting the northern move.
It was the demonstration that eventually forced him to apologize: “My recent conversations with Israeli television have caused resentment to those who lost a family member in the Gaza war. The last two weeks have been terrible for Gaza and for those who live there.”