Stockholm says the move follows Israel’s plan to ban the UN agency from the end of January.
Sweden will no longer fund the United Nations Palestinian refugee agency (UNRWA) and will instead provide increased overall humanitarian aid to Gaza through other channels, the Nordic country said, in a decision denounced by the head of the agency.
“Essential government support for UNRWA is ending,” the Swedish Foreign Ministry said in a statement on Friday.
UNRWA provides assistance to nearly six million Palestinian refugees in Gaza, the occupied West Bank, Lebanon, Jordan and Syria.
Israel, which announced it would ban UNRWA operations in the country from the end of January, claimed that 19 agency employees were involved in the October 7, 2023 attacks carried out by Hamas against Israel.
After an investigation by the UN watchdog, the UN fired nine UNRWA employees, saying they “may have been involved” in the attack.
Sweden’s decision was taken in response to the Israeli ban because it will make it more difficult to deliver aid through UNRWA, Swedish Minister for International Development Cooperation and Foreign Trade Benjamin Dousa said. , on the Swedish television channel TV4.
Sweden plans to increase its overall humanitarian aid to Gaza next year to 800 million Swedish crowns ($72.44 million), up from 451 million Swedish crowns ($41 million) spent this year, its official said. Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
The aid will flow through several organizations, including the United Nations World Food Program, UNICEF, the United Nations Population Fund and the International Committee of the Red Cross, the ministry added.
The new Israeli law does not directly prohibit UNRWA operations in the occupied West Bank and Gaza, but it will have serious consequences for UNRWA’s ability to work. Senior UN officials have described UNRWA as the backbone of the humanitarian response in Gaza.
‘Sad day’
The Palestinian Embassy in Stockholm said in a statement that it rejected the idea of finding “alternatives to UNRWA,” adding that the agency had a “special mandate to provide services to Palestinian refugees.”
The refugee population depends on health care, education, emergency relief and humanitarian assistance from UNRWA, the statement noted.
The United Nations General Assembly threw its support behind UNRWA this month, demanding that Israel respect the agency’s mandate and “allow its operations to proceed without hindrance or restriction.”
UNRWA chief Philippe Lazzarini called the Swedish decision “disappointing” and coming at “the worst time for Palestinian refugees.”
“This decision comes a day after members of the United Nations General Assembly overwhelmingly adopted a resolution in favor of UNRWA,” he said in a post on X.
“It is a sad day for Palestinian refugees and for the multilateral system led by Sweden,” Lazzarini said.
For his part, Amichai Chikli, Israeli Minister of Diaspora Affairs, welcomed the Nordic country’s decision, saying that UNRWA “has lost its legitimacy to exist.”
Israeli Deputy Foreign Minister Sharren Haskel thanked Dousa for the meeting they had this week and for Sweden’s decision to abandon its support for UNRWA.
“There are valid and viable alternatives to humanitarian aid, and I appreciate the willingness to listen and take a different approach,” she said.
After the dismissal of the nine UNRWA staff members, Israel claimed in July that another 100 UNRWA employees were members of Hamas and other Palestinian armed groups.
The agency said last month that it had asked Israel to provide more information and had not received a response.
