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full screen Even Japan has decided to stop its aid to the UN agency UNRWA. Archive image. Photo: Mohammad Zaatari/AP/TT
Japan is also stopping its aid to the UN refugee agency UNRWA after allegations that employees of the agency had a role in Hamas attacks on Israel.
The USA, Germany and Great Britain are some of the countries that have previously frozen their aid.
Following Israel’s accusations that employees of the refugee agency collaborated with terrorist-branded Hamas in connection with the attacks on Israel on October 7, Japan joins the countries that stop aid to UNRWA.
Previously, among others, the USA, Germany, Great Britain, Italy, Australia, Finland, Switzerland, Canada and the Netherlands have announced that they are freezing their aid.
The UN has not yet published the details of Israel’s information – but according to a high-ranking official from the organization, it is about “extremely serious and terrible allegations”, writes The New York Times.
Twelve people who worked for Unrwa have been dismissed since the information was made public on Friday.
Israel has also previously directed harsh criticism at UNRWA – and the country’s foreign minister Israel Katz on Saturday called on the head of the UN agency, Philippe Lazzarini, to leave his post.
“Please resign,” Katz wrote in a post on X.
No stop
Other donor countries, including Ireland and Norway, however, announce that they will continue to provide aid to the aid agency.
Ireland’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, Micheál Martin, writes on X that UNRWA’s staff contributed aid that saved human lives “at enormous personal cost”.
Norway also announces that it will not stop its aid.
“We have to distinguish between what individuals may have done and what UNRWA stands for,” writes Norwegian Foreign Minister Espen Barth Eide in a statement on the government’s website.
No Swedish decision
Sweden, which is one of the main donor countries, in December last year allocated SEK 400 million to Unrwa’s work in 2024. The Swedish government has not yet made a decision to suspend or continue the support.
– We are in contact with various international partners and with Unrwa linked to the investigation they have announced, said Aid Minister Johan Forssell (M), who emphasizes that no money has been paid out so far this year, to TT on Sunday.
FACTS agency Unrwa
The UN agency UNRWA was founded after the war that broke out with the creation of Israel in 1948, with the aim of helping the more than 750,000 Palestinians who were forced to flee.
Today, UNRWA helps around 5.9 million Palestinian refugees. Close to 90 percent of donations come from UN member countries. The biggest support has come from, among others, the USA, Germany, the EU, Sweden and Norway.
Over half of Unrwa’s budget goes to school education. Around 15 percent to protect the health of the Palestinian refugees, according to figures from 2020.
The UN agency has around 30,000 employees, a majority of whom are locally employed Palestinians.
Source: Unrwa and others.
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