Stockholm says decision comes in response to Israel’s plan to ban the UN agency starting in late January.Sweden will no longer fund the United Nations refugee agency for Palestinians (UNRWA) and will instead provide increased overall humanitarian assistance to Gaza via other channels, the Nordic country says, in a move denounced by the head of the agency.
“The government’s core support to UNRWA ends,” the Swedish Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement on Friday.
UNRWA provides assistance to nearly six million Palestinian refugees across Gaza, the occupied West Bank, Lebanon, Jordan and Syria.
Israel, which said it will ban UNRWA operations in the country from late January, has alleged that 19 employees from the agency were involved in the October 7, 2023, Hamas-led attacks on Israel.
After an investigation by the UN’s oversight body, the UN terminated nine UNRWA employees it found “may have been involved” in the attack.
Sweden’s decision was made in response to the Israeli ban because it will make channelling aid via UNRWA more difficult, Swedish International Development Cooperation and Foreign Trade Minister Benjamin Dousa told Swedish broadcaster TV4. Advertisement
Sweden plans to increase its overall humanitarian assistance to Gaza next year to 800 million Swedish kronor ($72.44m) from 451 million Swedish kronor ($41m) spent this year, its Foreign Ministry said.
Aid will flow via several organisations, including the UN World Food Programme, UNICEF, the UN Population Fund and the International Committee of the Red Cross, the ministry added.
The new Israeli law does not directly ban UNRWA’s o …