7 months ago
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Hamas calls it ‘comprehensive vision’ but Benjamin Netanyahu’s office says it is based on ‘unrealistic demands’
Australia will restore funding to the United Nations relief agency for Palestinians (Unrwa), weeks after the agency lost hundreds of millions of dollars in support following Israeli allegations that some of its Gaza-based staff participated in the 7 October attack.
The Associated Press (AP) reports that the Australian government also pledged on Friday to increase aid for Gaza, with foreign minister Penny Wong expressing horror at the deteriorating humanitarian situation in Gaza.
Australia’s move follows Sweden, the European Commission and Canada in reinstating funding for Unrwa, which had seen its international funding frozen while the allegations were investigated.
“The best available current advice from agencies and the Australian government lawyers is that Unrwa is not a terrorist organisation,” Wong told reporters Friday in Adelaide while she announced the aid package.
“[We have] been working with a group of donor countries and with Unrwa on the shared objective of ensuring the integrity of Unrwa’s operations, rebuilding confidence, and so importantly, ensuring aid flows to Gazans in desperate need.”
Australia, alongside 15 international partners, froze funding to Unrwa in January, leaving the agency – which employs roughly 13,000 people in Gaza and is the main supplier of food, water and shelter there – on the brink of financial collapse.
A small number of the agency’s staff were fired after the accusations.
Israel has claimed that 450 Unrwa employees were members of militant groups in Gaza, though it has provided no evidence.
Wong also pledged an additional $4m Australian ($2.6m/£2m) to Unicef to provide urgent services in Gaza, and a C17 Globemaster plane will also deliver defence force parachutes to help with the US led airdropping of humanitarian supplies into Gaza, which is on the brink of famine, says the UN.
