The secretary general of Amnesty International, Agnes Callamard, has written to the president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, urging the EU to continue its funding for the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA, “without delay”.

“Suspension of funding to UNRWA, in a context where alarming signs of genocide exist, risks significantly exacerbating if not contributing to the harms which the Genocide Convention seeks to prevent,” Callamard wrote.

Callamard acknowledged the need for allegations against around a dozen of UNRWA’s 30,000 staff to be independently investigated but said that “suspending UNRWA funding also risks legitimising the practice of collective punishment of Palestinians”.