By Euronews with AP
Published on 10/03/2024 -
Sweden and Canada will resume aid payments to UN agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA.
Another top donor to the UN agency aiding Palestinians, UNRWA, said on Saturday that it would resume funding, weeks after more than a dozen countries halted hundreds of millions of dollars of support in response to Israeli allegations against the organisation.
Sweden's reversal came as a ship bearing tons of humanitarian aid was preparing to leave Cyprus for Gaza after international donors launched a sea corridor to supply the besieged territory facing widespread hunger after five months of war.
Sweden's funding decision followed similar ones by the European Union and Canada as the UN agency known as UNRWA warns that it could collapse and leave Gaza's already desperate population of more than 2 million people with even less medical and other assistance.
“The humanitarian situation in Gaza is devastating and the needs are acute,” Swedish development minister Johan Forssell said, adding that UNRWA had agreed to increased transparency and stricter controls.
Sweden will give UNRWA half of the €34.7 million funding it promised for this year, with more to come.
Canada also said on Friday that it would re-start funding for UNRWA while investigations into the agency's staff continue.
Israel had accused 12 of UNRWA's thousands of employees of participating in the 7 October Hamas attacks on Israel that killed 1,200 people and took about 250 others hostage. Countries including the United States quickly suspended funding to UNRWA worth about €411 million, almost half its budget for the year. The UN has launched investigations, and UNRWA has been agreeing to outside audits to win back donor support.
The daily number of aid trucks entering Gaza since the war has been far below the 500 that entered before 7 October because of Israeli restrictions and security issues. The recent opening of a new sea corridor from Cyprus to Gaza showed increasing frustration with Gaza's humanitarian crisis and a new willingness to work around Israeli restrictions.
Overall, the ministry said at least 30,878 Palestinians have been killed since the war began. The toll does not differentiate between civilians and combatants in its tallies but says women and children make up two-thirds of the dead. The ministry is part of the Hamas-run government, and its figures from previous wars have largely matched those of the UN and independent experts.
Canada lifting freeze on UNRWA funding after weeks of protests, criticism
Rights advocates welcome ‘much-needed decision’ as Palestinians in Gaza face humanitarian crisis amid Israeli attacks.
Sweden and Canada will resume aid payments to UN agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA.
Another top donor to the UN agency aiding Palestinians, UNRWA, said on Saturday that it would resume funding, weeks after more than a dozen countries halted hundreds of millions of dollars of support in response to Israeli allegations against the organisation.
Sweden's reversal came as a ship bearing tons of humanitarian aid was preparing to leave Cyprus for Gaza after international donors launched a sea corridor to supply the besieged territory facing widespread hunger after five months of war.
Sweden's funding decision followed similar ones by the European Union and Canada as the UN agency known as UNRWA warns that it could collapse and leave Gaza's already desperate population of more than 2 million people with even less medical and other assistance.
“The humanitarian situation in Gaza is devastating and the needs are acute,” Swedish development minister Johan Forssell said, adding that UNRWA had agreed to increased transparency and stricter controls.
Sweden will give UNRWA half of the €34.7 million funding it promised for this year, with more to come.
Canada also said on Friday that it would re-start funding for UNRWA while investigations into the agency's staff continue.
Israel had accused 12 of UNRWA's thousands of employees of participating in the 7 October Hamas attacks on Israel that killed 1,200 people and took about 250 others hostage. Countries including the United States quickly suspended funding to UNRWA worth about €411 million, almost half its budget for the year. The UN has launched investigations, and UNRWA has been agreeing to outside audits to win back donor support.
The daily number of aid trucks entering Gaza since the war has been far below the 500 that entered before 7 October because of Israeli restrictions and security issues. The recent opening of a new sea corridor from Cyprus to Gaza showed increasing frustration with Gaza's humanitarian crisis and a new willingness to work around Israeli restrictions.
Overall, the ministry said at least 30,878 Palestinians have been killed since the war began. The toll does not differentiate between civilians and combatants in its tallies but says women and children make up two-thirds of the dead. The ministry is part of the Hamas-run government, and its figures from previous wars have largely matched those of the UN and independent experts.
Canada lifting freeze on UNRWA funding after weeks of protests, criticism
Rights advocates welcome ‘much-needed decision’ as Palestinians in Gaza face humanitarian crisis amid Israeli attacks.
Canada's decision to restore funding was made in recognition of 'the critical role that UNRWA plays', according to Minister of International Development Ahmed Hussen
[File: Blair Gable/Reuters]
By Al Jazeera Staff
Published On 8 Mar 2024
Montreal, Canada – Canada has announced it is lifting a freeze on funding for the United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA), after facing fierce criticism for cutting assistance during Israel’s war in Gaza.
In a statement on Friday, Canadian Minister of International Development Ahmed Hussen said the government is “resuming its funding to UNRWA so more can be done to respond to the urgent needs of Palestinian civilians”.
Published On 8 Mar 2024
Montreal, Canada – Canada has announced it is lifting a freeze on funding for the United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA), after facing fierce criticism for cutting assistance during Israel’s war in Gaza.
In a statement on Friday, Canadian Minister of International Development Ahmed Hussen said the government is “resuming its funding to UNRWA so more can be done to respond to the urgent needs of Palestinian civilians”.
Canada had joined the United States and several other countries in cutting funding to UNRWA in late January, after Israel accused about a dozen of the agency’s more than 13,000 employees in Gaza of taking part in a Hamas attack on October 7.
UNRWA immediately sacked the employees in question and announced that it was opening a probe into the allegations, which it described as “shocking” and “serious”. UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres also appointed an independent panel to investigate.
Israel, however, did not provide concrete evidence to back up its allegations. Canadian broadcaster CBC News also reported in early February that Canada had not seen any intelligence backing the claim before it decided to cut the funding.
The decision to cut funding for UNRWA — which relies on government contributions to fund its operations in the occupied Palestinian territories, Jordan, Syria and Lebanon — drew immediate concern and calls from rights advocates to reconsider.
UNRWA also is the key agency providing critical humanitarian supplies to Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, where Israel’s continued bombardment and siege have killed more than 30,000 people and led to widespread hunger and disease.
Humanitarian groups had warned that cutting UNRWA funding would have dire repercussions for Palestinians in Gaza and urged donor countries to reverse their decisions.
Since then, the situation in the Strip has deteriorated further, as Israeli military attacks continue. About a dozen Palestinian children have died in recent weeks due to a lack of food and water in Gaza, according to health authorities in the coastal enclave.
Palestinians gather to inspect a destroyed building following an Israeli attack on Deir el-Balah on March 8
[Ashraf Amra/Anadolu Agency]
‘Reckless political decision’
On Friday afternoon, Canadian human rights advocates welcomed the government’s decision to lift the freeze on UNRWA funding but stressed that the money should not have been cut to begin with.
“Resuming aid to UNRWA is a much-needed decision, and it would not have been possible without the important advocacy from across civil society,” said Thomas Woodley, president of the advocacy group Canadians for Justice and Peace in the Middle East.
“Minister Hussen’s cancellation of funding was a reckless political decision that never should have been made. Canada’s irresponsible actions threatened to collapse the aid infrastructure in Gaza, putting the lives of millions of people at risk,” Woodley said in a statement.
“Canada must significantly increase funding to UNRWA to compensate for the harm its actions have caused to the people of Gaza.”
The government contributed $66.5m ($90m Canadian) to UNRWA from 2019 though mid-2023. Last June, Ottawa also announced that it would provide as much as $74m ($100m Canadian) to the agency over four years to help fund education, health care and other services.
Canadian media outlets have reported that the next installment of that funding — about $18m ($25m Canadian) — is due in April.
Meanwhile, the head of the National Council of Canadian Muslims also noted on Friday that “there are no other agencies that can replicate UNRWA’s central role in the humanitarian response in Gaza”.
“While funding should not have been paused in the first place, the government made the right decision today by renewing and increasing funding,” the group’s CEO, Stephen Brown, said in a statement.
Pressure on Trudeau
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s government had faced pressure from pro-Israel lobby groups to maintain its freeze on funding for UNRWA. Members of Trudeau’s own Liberal Party also had urged him to withhold the funds.
Pro-Israel Liberal legislators Anthony Housefather and Marco Mendicino said in a letter on Thursday that they had recommended “that Canada work in lockstep with the United States and other allies”
They urged the government “to leverage alternate partners and to create new vehicles of humanitarian aid that will meaningfully reach the civilians of Gaza in the short term”.
But experts and humanitarian groups have said UNRWA is best suited to provide much-needed assistance to Palestinians in Gaza.
In a news conference on Friday afternoon, Hussen said the decision to resume funding was “in recognition of the significant and serious processes that the United Nations has undertaken to address the issues in UNRWA”.
It also comes in recognition of “the critical role that UNRWA plays in providing much-needed support to over two million Palestinians in Gaza, as well as … millions more in the broader region”, Hussen told reporters.
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