The first $20 million will be disbursed after Sweden guarantees UNRWA checks on expenditures and personnel.
Sweden announced it would resume aid to cash-strapped UN agencies for the Palestinians with an initial disbursement of $20 million, with guarantees of additional checks on spending and personnel.
The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), the main humanitarian aid agency in the Gaza Strip, has set a precedent after major international donors, led by the United States, cut funding due to suspicions of terrorism. faced a financial crisis with no funds available.
Like several other countries, Sweden suspended aid to UNRWA after Israel accused about a dozen UNRWA staff of involvement in the October 7 Hamas-led attack before the conflict in Gaza. did.
Sweden announced on Saturday that “the government has allocated SEK 400 million to UNRWA in 2024. Today's decision concerns the first payment of SEK 200 million ($19.4).”
To lift the block on aid, UNRWA agreed to “manage and authorize independent audits to strengthen internal oversight and additional controls over personnel,” the government said.
Sweden's move comes after the European Commission announced earlier this month that it would release 50 million euros ($54.7 million) in funding for UNRWA.
Canada announced on Friday that it would lift a freeze on funding to UNRWA, which joined the United States, Britain and other countries in cutting aid in late January.
“The agency is at risk of death and is at risk of dismantling,” UNRWA chief Philippe Lazzarini said in an interview aired on Swiss broadcaster RTS on Saturday.
“At stake is the short-term fate of the Palestinian people, who today are experiencing an unprecedented humanitarian crisis in Gaza.”
UNRWA is at the center of efforts to provide humanitarian relief in Gaza, with the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs reporting last month that at least 500,000 people, or one in four people, face hunger in the Gaza Strip. .
Israel has severely restricted the entry of humanitarian aid into Gaza by land, prompting the United States and other countries to rely on stopgap measures such as airlifting food to the enclave.
Such measures by the United States, Jordan, the United Arab Emirates and Egypt have been criticized by aid agencies as costly and ineffective ways to deliver food and medical supplies.
UNRWA announced that Israeli authorities have not allowed supplies to be transported north of the Strip since January 23.
Al Jazeera's Hani Mahmoud reported that in northern Gaza, “we are witnessing children dying from forced starvation and dehydration as the famine spreads.”
He said on Saturday that three more children had died of starvation and dehydration at Al Shifa Hospital, raising the number to 23.
At least 30,960 Palestinians have been killed and 72,524 injured in Israeli attacks on Gaza since October 7. The death toll in Israel from the Oct. 7 Hamas attack has reached 1,139 people, with dozens still detained.
