UNRWA: Restart aid to Palestinian UN agency, EU urges

The EU has called on international donors to resume funding to Gaza’s largest UN agency. 

Several nations had stopped funding the UNRWA agency after allegations that some employees took part in the October 7 attack on Israel. 

A review has found that Israel failed to provide evidence for its claim that thousands of UNRWA staff were members of terror groups. 

UNRWA provides healthcare, education and humanitarian aid to Palestinians and employs 13,000 people in Gaza. 

The US says it will not restart its aid until the agency makes “real progress.” 

EU humanitarian chief Janez Lenarcic welcomed Monday’s report for “underlining the agency’s significant number of compliance systems in place as well as recommendations for their further upgrade”.

He called on donor nations to support UNRWA, describing it as “the Palestinian refugees’ lifeline”.

This was echoed by Norway’s Foreign Minister Espen Barth Eide, who hailed countries including Australia, Canada, Finland, Germany, Iceland, Japan and Sweden for already resuming their funding.

The US, UK, Italy, Netherlands, Austria and Lithuania have not yet done so.