Israel slams decision by Canada and Sweden to resume Unrwa funding
10 March 2024 10:53 GMT | Middle East Eye
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Israel on Saturday slammed the decision by Canada and Sweden to resume aid to the United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees, saying supporting Unrwa was a “serious mistake”.
Several countries, including the United States and Britain, paused their funding to Unrwa in late January after accusations by Israel that a dozen of the agency’s 13,000 staff in Gaza took part in the Hamas attack on southern Israeli towns on 7 October.
Canada and Sweden announced over the weekend they were resuming funding for the agency, which has been fundamental to humanitarian efforts in the Gaza Strip, where more than three quarters of the 2.2 million population have been displaced by Israel’s military campaign.
The Israeli foreign ministry called on both governments to cut funding, saying the renewed aid showed that Canada and Sweden had chosen “to ignore the involvement of Unrwa employees in terrorist activity”.
On Saturday, Sweden announced an initial payment of $20m after receiving assurances of extra checks on Unrwa’s spending and personnel.
Canada said on Friday that it would resume funding to Unrwa “because of the dire humanitarian situation on the ground”, but did not elaborate.