Former prime minister Helen Clark has urged the Government not to cut funding for the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) after allegations against several members of its staff.
Israel passed on intelligence alleging several members of UNRWA's staff were part of Hamas' October 7 attack on Israel last year. The agency sacked some staff amid an ongoing internal investigation into the allegations.
The US, UK and Australia have suspended funds to UNRWA as a result. New Zealand is set to "assess" its own contribution.
Clark – a former UN Development Programme administrator – told Breakfast this morning: "I think stopping the funding is very unwise.
"This is the major humanitarian delivery arm into the Gaza Strip, to say nothing of the fact that it's the major humanitarian and development agency serving Palestinian refugees and their descendants through Jordan, Syria, Lebanon, the West Bank as well as Gaza," she said.
"Of course, the allegations are serious, but they're allegations."
Clark said nine of the 12 accused workers have been sacked, while one is dead and two haven't yet been traced by the UN.
The agency employs roughly 13,000 people.
The former PM emphasised that New Zealand's next round of funding for the agency, a scheduled $1 million, wasn't due until June.
'The allegations are incredibly serious' — PM
Current Prime Minister Christopher Luxon stressed that New Zealand is offering humanitarian assistance in other ways.
"The allegations are incredibly serious," he told media at Parliament today. "It's important they are properly understood and investigated.
"We won't be making any further contributions until the Foreign Minister [Winston Peters] says it's good to do so.
"What I'd just remind everybody is that that our funding is about a million dollars a year, we've already offered $10 million in humanitarian assistance and we've split that money between the International Red Cross and also the World Food Programme.
"We won't be making any further contributions until the Foreign Minister says we're good to go."
Asked how long the decision could take, Luxon said: "It'll take as long as it takes.
"They're serious allegations and they need to be understood and investigated and when the Foreign Minister says he's done that and he's happy for us to contribute, and continue to contribute, we'll do that.
"We want to be reassured that it's a good organisation, it's the right place to put money into."
'It makes no sense' — Clark
"The UN has said it will have a full investigation, the Secretary-General himself has implored countries not to cut funding at this time when the Palestinian population is so besieged," Clark said.
"So I think, really, countries like New Zealand taking a deep breath and saying, 'Look, let this investigation run and let's see where we are' rather than just jump in and cut funding when it's badly needed."
"Heaven knows where we will be in this overall Gaza conflict by June," she said.
"It makes no sense to cripple the major humanitarian delivery agency of the United Nations at this time."
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