United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA)

Activity

• The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs in the Palestinian territories (OCHA-oPt) is a primary coordinator of NGO funding and activity in the Arab-Israeli conflict.
• OCHA oversees and facilitates government funding to highly biased and politicized NGOs, including a number that are highly active in promoting BDS and lawfare campaigns, and some even engage in blatantly antisemitic activities. Some of the NGOs also have ties to the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), a terrorist organization designated as such by the US, EU, Canada, and Israel.
• OCHA-oPt acknowledges that its involvement in intense political warfare against Israel is “unique as compared to other OCHA country offices globally.” While other OCHA missions in conflict identify critical humanitarian interventions such as “saving lives” as the top priority, OCHA-oPt’s Strategic Objective 1 is “The rights of Palestinians living under occupation, including those living under the blockade and other restrictions, are protected, respected and promoted … while duty-bearers are increasingly held to account” (emphasis added).
• OCHA-oPt activities are determined and coordinated by a Humanitarian Country Team (HCT), “a strategic and operational decision-making and oversight forum” under which all of OCHA’s country-based activities take place. The HCT directs various thematic “clusters” (see below), which set project priorities and coordinate much of the funding from OCHA to local NGO partners. 
• The Palestinian NGO Network (PNGO) and the Association of International Development Agencies (AIDA) are key members of the HCT. 
  • PNGO is an umbrella organization comprising 142 Palestinian NGO member organizations, many of which support BDS campaigns and have ties to the PFLP terror group. In January 2020, PNGO vehemently opposed a new clause in European Union grant contracts with Palestinian NGOs that prohibits grantees from working with and funding organizations and individuals designated on the EU’s terror lists. PNGO claimed that Palestinian terrorist organizations are “political parties.”  
  • Multiple PNGO officials have ties to terrorist organizations, and at least five PNGO members have ties to EU-designated terror organizations, including through their employees and/or board members who are directly involved in activities and programs.
  • AIDA engages in international advocacy by acting as “a collective voice of its members and representing their interests to key decision makers.” As a result, policy makers often rely on AIDA’s inaccurate and unverifiable claims without consulting a variety of sources or Israeli perspectives.

Developments Since October 7

• On October 12, 2023, UN OCHA-oPt launched the “OPT Flash Appeal,” seeking $294 million “to address the most urgent needs of 1,260,000 people in the Gaza Strip (Gaza) and the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, for three months.” On November 3, the target amount was raised to $1.2 billion. The flash appeal was extended through March 2024 due to “continuing impediments to an effective and appropriately scaled humanitarian response.” 
• An additional $2.8 billion “updated flash appeal” was launched on April 17 “to cover the period through the end of 2024.”
• The money will go to “13 UN Agencies, 29 International Non-Governmental Organizations (INGOs), and 38 National NGOs (NNGOs).”
  • Many of these same UN agencies and NGOs were responsible for the hundreds of millions of dollars in humanitarian aid that Hamas systematically diverted for terror purposes – including for rockets and tunnels. Some of the recipients actively lobbied the US and European governments to significantly relax vetting standards meant to prevent this theft of aid.
  • Additionally, one recipient. Al Awda Health and Community Association, is affiliated with the PFLP terror group, while others regularly partner with terror-linked groups.
• A number of recipients are listed as “International NGOs (Confidential)” and “National NGOs (Confidential)” illustrating a lack of transparency and a possibility that the grantees are problematic actors (emphasis added).

Manipulation of Casualty Figures

• As part of its agenda, OCHA publishes weekly reports on “Protection of Civilians,” monthly “Humanitarian Bulletins,” fact sheets, case studies, and various other publications that promote a narrative based solely on Palestinian victimization and Israeli aggression, while minimizing Palestinian terror, rejectionism, incitement, and legitimate Israeli national security concerns.
• These publications often repeat the unverified and unreliable claims of political advocacy NGOs, many of whom are terror-linked, as well as claims by the PLO and Hamas. In turn, OCHA’s repackaging of these claims are subsequently referenced, cited, and quoted at an extremely high volume by international media and government officials, as well as in official UN documents.
• While OCHA publishes numerous resources on casualties claims and “Gaza Crossings’ Operations” (including the amount of people and goods allowed into and out of various border crossings), repeating the claims of politicized NGOs, it rarely, if ever, cites relevant Israeli government statistics, such as information published by the Coordination of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT), the Israel Defense Forces, or the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
• In addition, OCHA regularly presents data in a manipulative way that erases the context of terrorism and distorts law and morality. For example, OCHA fails to make distinctions between Palestinian civilians and attackers, thereby amplifying Palestinian casualty claims, and drawing a false symmetry between legal Israeli self-defense and illegal attacks by terrorists.
• OCHA’s website also highlights a number of biased videos reflecting the Palestinian narrative, including “How long does it take to demolish a house?,” “Gaza: Only Rubble Where Homes Once Stood,” and “Walled Horizons.” These videos show scenes of destruction and despair, while completely omitting Palestinian terrorism, including rocket attacks against Israeli population centers and tunnels running beneath the border into Israel. The videos are devoid of all context and are aimed solely at demonizing Israel.

UN OCHA oPt Humanitarian Fund

• The oPt Humanitarian Fund (oPt HF) is a “pooled fund” that aims to “Expand the delivery of assistance in hard-to-reach areas by partnering with national and international NGOs.”
• UN OCHA-oPt HF projects are funded by Germany, Norway, Ireland, Italy, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Australia, Belgium, and Iceland.
• The Fund’s “Advisory Board” includes the “donors to the fund and representatives of national and international NGOs and UN agencies.”
• In 2023, the oPt Humanitarian Fund allocated $68 million to 110 projects in Israel, the West Bank, and Gaza.
• As of 2020, OCHA’s funding database is markedly less transparent than in the past, making it difficult to track the involvement of NGOs involved in OCHA projects. Often, the implementing NGO partners on projects in Israel, the West Bank, and Gaza are not listed.
• The Fund has provided grants to a number of highly biased and politicized NGOs active in the Arab-Israeli conflict, including B’Tselem, Palestinian Center for Human Rights (PCHR), Union of Agricultural Work Committees (UAWC), Union of Health Work Committees (UHWC), Ma’an Development Center, HaMoked, Medical Aid for Palestinians (MAP), and Health Work Committees (HWC). (See table below for further funding information.)

UN Humanitarian Aid Clusters

• As part of its “Humanitarian Response Plan (HRP),” OCHA organizes “Thematic Clusters” including Protection, Education, Shelter, Health and Nutrition, WASH (Water, Sanitation, Hygiene), and the Food Security Sector (FSS). Within each cluster, NGOs serve as implementing partners with UN agencies, and in some cases, are responsible for leading the cluster.
• In practice, the cluster system is a key international lobbying and action mechanism through which the PA advances its nationalist and political agenda, sustaining conflict.
• As part of the 2023 HRP, NGOs received $377.9 million (out of a requested $376.7 million) in government-provided humanitarian aid within the different clusters.
• Numerous NGOs that receive funding under the HRP support BDS and other overtly political campaigns against Israel, and several have ties to the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) terrorist organization.

Clusters

• Protection Cluster
  • The Protection Cluster’s Legal Task Force, a sub-division of the Legal Aid sub-working group (co-chaired by the Norwegian Refugee Council and the Society of St. Yves), is comprised of 14 Israeli, Palestinian, and international NGOs, including Addameer, B’tselem, Defense for Children International – Palestine (DCI-P), Al- Haq, Al Mezan, and Palestinian Center for Human Rights (PCHR).
    • October 2021, the Israeli Ministry of Defense declared Addameer, Al-Haq, and DCI-P as “terror organizations” because they are part of “a network of organizations” that operates “on behalf of the ‘Popular Front’.”
• Education Cluster
  • The Global Education Cluster, led by UNICEF and Save the Children, has 19 global partners including the Norwegian Refugee Council, World Vision, Finn Church Aid, Open Society Foundations, and Save the Children.
• Shelter Cluster
  • The Shelter Cluster, led by the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC), includes Ma’an Development Center, Palestinian Agricultural Relief Committees (PARC), and the Agency for Technical Cooperation and Development (ACTED).
• Health and Nutrition Cluster
  • The Health and Nutrition Cluster is comprised of the Union of Health Work Committees (UHWC), Health Work Committees (HWC), Medical Aid for Palestinians (MAP), World Vision, Physicians for Human Rights – Israel (PHR-I), Save the Children, Medecins du Monde, and CARE International.
    • Numerous UHWC and HWC staff members, founders, board members, general assembly members, and senior staff members have ties to the PFLP terror group.
• WASH Cluster (Water, Sanitation, Hygiene)
  • “Full Members” of the WASH Cluster include Catholic Agency for Overseas Development (CAFOD), Oxfam, Norwegian Refugee Council, Save the Children, World Vision, Islamic Relief Worldwide, Norwegian Church Aid, and Terre des Hommes. “Associate members and observers” include United States (USAID), European Union, Netherlands (MFA), United Kingdom (Department for International Development-DFID), and Switzerland (Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation).
  • The WASH Cluster has international and local NGO partners, including Al-Haq, Al-Dameer, Applied Research Institute Jerusalem (ARIJ), UAWC, Ma’an, PARC, PENGON (Palestinian Environmental NGOs Network), Oxfam GB, Palestinian NGO Network (PNGO), World Vision, Society of St. Yves, and Christian Aid.
• Food Security Sector
  • The members of the Food Security Cluster include Union of Agricultural Work Committees (UAWC), Applied Research Institute Jerusalem (ARIJ), Première Urgence Internationale (PUI), Oxfam Italia, and Oxfam GB

Advocacy within Humanitarian Clusters

• Within the Protection Cluster, UNICEF-oPt heads the “Working Group on Grave Violations against Children” to monitor and report on alleged instances of grave violations against Palestinian children. The Working Group includes organizations that have ties to the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) terror group and/or are prominent actors in anti-Israel BDS and lawfare campaigns. 
  • UNICEF and the NGO members of the Working Group are active in a coordinated attempt to place Israel on a blacklist of “grave” violators of children’s rights, alongside ISIS, Boko Haram, and Al-Qaeda. The list appears as an annex to the UN Secretary-General’s annual report on Children and Armed Conflict (CAAC). (For more information, see NGO Monitor’s report “UNICEF and its NGO Working Group: Failing Children.”)
• On March 21, 2017 and March 29, 2017, in meetings held at the Ministry of Agriculture in Gaza City and Ramallah, the Food Security Sector (FSS), along with representatives from international and Palestinian NGOs, were urged by its partner Action Against Hunger (ACF) to participate in an advocacy “hashtag” campaign to mark “50 Years of Israeli Occupation,” using #thisisoccupation and #endtheoccupation.
• Connie Martinez-Varela Pedersen is the current Cluster Coordinator for the Protection Cluster and a Human Rights Officer at OHCHR. Pedersen previously worked as the director of international advocacy for the politicized Israeli NGO Yesh Din.
• In 2017, the Food Security Sector (FSS) stated that it would “conduct Bilateral meetings (lobby trip, Consulate, Embassy), hearing at the European Parliament and other international fora.” FSS also stated that it would focus on sending “clear messages about the illegality of the following”:
  • “Israeli settlements, hence settler violence are illegal under IHL”
  • “Stop settlements expansion”
  • “Stop the forcible transfer of Palestinian Bedouins and herders with its negative consequences on their livelihoods.”
• In August 2014, the Protection Cluster relied on B’Tselem, Al Mezan, and Palestinian Center for Human Rights (PCHR) for reporting on Palestinian casualties in Gaza during the 2014 Gaza war. Most, if not all, claims were based upon those of the Hamas Ministry of Health.
  • Former and current senior PCHR officials have ties to the PFLP.
• Since 2013, under the “oPt Education Cluster,” UNICEF has partnered with Ecumenical Accompaniment Programme in Palestine and Israel (EAPPI) in providing “protective presence” to Palestinian children going to and from school.
  • EAPPI brings volunteers to the West Bank for three months to “witness life under occupation.” Upon completion of the program, the volunteers return to their home countries and churches where many engage in anti-Israel advocacy, including advocating for BDS campaigns in churches, comparing Israel to apartheid South Africa and Nazi Germany, and other delegitimization strategies.
  • EAPPI also participates in the UN’s Protection Cluster Working Group (PCWG) and the Settler Violence Core Group (SVCG). EAPPI’s role in these groups is “ongoing submission[s] of incident reports to the SVCG, UN agencies and other relevant actors. Participation in meetings of the Silwan Task Force/East Jerusalem Task force and AIDA, and the Education Cluster.” EAPPI volunteers “monitor for human rights violations and do a lot of administrative work which is fed into UN systems” (emphasis added).

2020-2024 Funding Received by Cluster

UN OCHA oPt –HF Funding to NGOs (amounts based on the UN’s Financial Tracking Service)

(* = PFLP linked NGO)