12/20/2024–|Last updated: 12/20/202402:29 PM (Mecca time)
Sweden’s Relief Minister Benjamin Dusa said on Friday that his country will not fund the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) and will follow other channels to provide humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip, while Norway announced its continued support for the UN agency..
Minister Dusa explained – in a statement to the media – that Sweden’s decision to end funding for UNRWA came as a result of the Israeli ban, which will make directing aid to the Palestinians through the UN agency more difficult.
The Swedish official added, “There are a number of other organizations in Gaza… I have met a number of them,” and gave the example of the United Nations World Food Program as a potential organization to receive aid.
In turn, sources in the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs told Tel Aviv Tribune that Norway will not stop its support for UNRWA, following the Israeli Knesset’s recent approval of two draft laws prohibiting the agency from working in Israel, amid expectations that this ban will reduce the distribution of aid in the Gaza Strip, which has been devastated by the ongoing Israeli war. .
The UN General Assembly expressed its support for UNRWA this month, calling on Israel to respect the agency’s mandate and “enable its operations to continue without hindrance or restrictions.”
The Israeli Knesset recently approved two draft laws prohibiting UNRWA from operating in Israel, amid expectations that this ban will reduce the distribution of aid in the Gaza Strip, which has been devastated by the ongoing Israeli war.
Israel – which will ban UNRWA operations there starting from the end of next January – has repeatedly accused agency employees of involvement in the Al-Aqsa Flood operation carried out by the Palestinian resistance in the Gaza Strip against Israel on the 7th of last October, while the agency denied those allegations. .
The number of donor countries that decided to suspend their funding of the agency increased at that time following the Israeli accusation, before some countries retracted their decision, while the United Nations announced that its investigators looking into the Israeli allegations had closed the case file due to Israel’s failure to provide evidence to support its allegations.
He left a comment from those countries – which numbered about 16- UNRWA’s funding has a funding gap of about $450 million, which represented a threat to the agency’s efforts to deliver the necessary aid to the Gaza Strip in light of the continuing UN warnings of an imminent famine.
The Israeli Foreign Ministry also announced early last November that it had officially informed the United Nations of its cancellation of the agreement concluded with UNRWA, which allows the agency to provide support and work in Palestine.
UNRWA Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini previously warned before the United Nations General Assembly that the dismantling of UNRWA demanded by Israel would lead to the sacrifice of “an entire generation of children” and “sow the seeds” of future conflicts.
UNRWA has repeatedly accused Israel of restricting its work and targeting its schools and headquarters in Gaza, even accusing Tel Aviv of torturing a number of its employees who were arrested by the occupation army in the Gaza Strip.
This comes at a time when Israel has continued its war on the Gaza Strip since October 7, 2023, leaving tens of thousands martyred, wounded and missing, amid a humanitarian situation described as catastrophic and a worsening famine looming over this besieged sector.