SYDNEY, March 15 — Australia will resume funding to the United Nations’ main Palestinian relief agency, said its Foreign Minister Penny Wong today.
This comes almost two months after pausing ties over allegations that some of the agency’s employees participated in the Hamas attack on Israel on October 7 last year.
She said Australia had consulted with UNRWA and other donors and is satisfied the aid agency is not a terror organisation.
New and additional safeguards would protect aid money, and AU$6 million (RM18.53 million) in paused funding would be released immediately.
“We have children and families that are starving, and we have a capacity along with the international community to assist them. We know that UNRWA is central and vital to delivering that assistance,” Wong said at a news conference.
Australia, along with more than a dozen countries, suspended funding to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) in January after Israel accused 12 of the agency’s 13,000 employees in Gaza of participating in the deadly October 7 Hamas attack.
The United Nations (UN) has launched an investigation into the allegations, and UNRWA fired some staff after Israel provided the agency with information on the allegations.
Sweden, Canada, and the European Union have resumed funding to some degree. Last week, the organisation’s head said he is cautiously optimistic that other donors would soon resume funding.
Wong also announced a further AU$4 million (RM12.36 million) in funding for Unicef and AU$2 million (RM6.18 million) for a separate UN facility in Gaza. Australia will also give Jordan and the United Arab Emirates 140 parachutes to use for air drops of aid.
When asked about reports of several Palestinians left stranded in transit after Australia cancelled temporary visas, she said all applicants were subject to security checks and referred the question to the Australian Home Affairs Minister.
— Reuters
