Pierre Krähenbühl

Pierre Krahenbuhl, the head of the UN Relief and Works Agency, which administers to Palestinian refugees in the Middle East, at a conference in Rome, March 2018. The agency, which was significantly rocked by the withdrawal of American donations last year, is now caught up in a possible ethics scandal.
The United Nations Relief and Works Agency, which has been undermined by a sharp cut in United States contributions, has been embroiled in a scandal that threatens to jeopardize its very future.

Pierre Krahenbuhl, the head of the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East, or Unrwa, briefs journalists at the UN after a pledging conference for the agency, June 25, 2019. The $110 million that was raised will get the agency through the summer. LOEY FELIPE/UN PHOTO
The United Nations refugee agency for Palestinians is vastly short of funds for 5.4 million people, while the Trump administration is doing its best to shut down the program and initiate new, albeit controversial financing.

Pierre Krahenbuhl, who runs the UN agency for Palestine refugees, left, and President Mahmoud Abbas of Palestine. The agency, called Unrwa, said it raised $118 million in a fund-raising lunch at the UN on Sept. 27, 2018, leaving a $68 million gap for the year, after the Trump administration ended its $300 million annual contribution.

More than 100 Palestinians were killed Wednesday July 30, 2014 in the Gaza Strip, among them victims of Israeli fire on a crowded market and a United Nations school.The market bombing came hours after Israelis bombed a UN school in Jabalia refugee camp which was sheltering some 3,300 homeless Gazans, killing 16."This morning a UN school sheltering thousands of Palestinian families suffered a reprehensible attack," UN chief Ban Ki-moon said. "It is unjustifiable, and demands accountability and justice."In a statement released earlier Wednesday, U.N.R.W.A.