The United Nations has defended its call for countries to keep funding the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA), after the United States urged donors to abandon the agency and redirect money to a US-led alternative. At UNRWA's annual pledging conference in early July 2026, US Ambassador Jeff Bartos claimed the agency had been infiltrated by Hamas and described it as a "subsidiary" of the group, marking a significant clash over how humanitarian aid to Gaza should be delivered.

Bartos urged governments to stop funding UNRWA schools, which he accused of promoting hatred and glorifying terrorism, and cited allegations that some staff took part in the Hamas-led attack on Israel on 7 October 2023. He pressed donors instead to back the Board of Peace, a US-led body created under President Trump's Gaza plan to oversee transitional governance, reconstruction and development alongside a Palestinian technocratic administration. UN spokesman Stéphane Dujarric defended UNRWA's record and mandate when asked why Secretary-General António Guterres was seeking more funding for the agency.