At least 10 Western countries are withdrawing or pausing funding to the UNRWA.
Canada has “temporarily paused” additional funding while UNRWA conducts a thorough investigation.
The UK said it had joined the others in “temporarily pausing” future financial aid for UNRWA.
Ireland and Norway, have chosen to continue support for UNRWA.
The 27 countries in the European Union have not paused funding. But will “assess further steps and draw lessons based on the result of the full and comprehensive investigation“.
One report states that these ten countries have halted funding to the agency.
- United States.
- Australia.
- Canada.
- Italy. (EU)
- Germany. (EU)
- Finland. (EU)
- Netherlands. (EU)
- Switzerland.
- United Kingdom. (EU)
- Scotland. (UK)
I make that NINE countries, as Scotland is part of the United Kingdom, and like Wales, are not counted separately.
Hamas, the Government in Gaza, has criticised the decision and called for an immediate reversal of the move, and to continue funding for them.
This suspension follows more revelations about the invasion into Israel by the Hamas military on 7 October 2023.
The current war began on 7 October 2023, when Hamas launched a land, sea, and air assault on Israel from the Gaza Strip.
UNRWA characterises Palestinian refugees as any “persons whose normal place of residence was Palestine during the period 1 June 1946 to 15 May 1948, and who lost both home and means of livelihood as a result of the 1948 War”. The majority are now the descendants of those original refugees.
The 1948 Arab-Israeli war began when Egypt, Transjordan, Syria, and expeditionary forces from Iraq attacked Israeli forces and several Jewish settlements.
Around 700,000 Palestinian Arabs fled or were expelled from their homes in the area that became Israel, and they became the Palestinian refugees. Around 260,000 Jews moved from the surrounding Arab states, to Israel during this war. Jewish Refugees?
UNRWA, (UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees), is a United Nations relief and works agency to support Palestinian refugees in Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, including East Jerusalem.
UNRWA’s main donor is the US.
The United Kingdom (UK) consists of England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.
The Gaza Strip.
The Gaza Strip, was administered from 1948 till 1967 by Egypt.
It was captured by Israel in the Six-Day War in 1967, after the Arabs began their invasion of Israel.
Between 1994 and 1999, Israel transferred security and civilian responsibility for much of the Gaza Strip and the West Bank to the Palestinian Authority (PA).
In September 2005 Israel completed the pullout from the territory, and control of the Gaza Strip was transferred to the PA.
In 2006, the Islamic Resistance Movement, HAMAS, won the Palestinian Legislative Council election and took control of the PA government.
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Due to the questions about whether this funding has directly supported jihadi terrorism against Israel, more countries have suspended funding to UNRWA.
Updated list of all countries that have decided to suspend their UNRWA funding, with their 2023 funding.