Montreal Canada – Canada has announced it will lift a freeze on funding for the United Nations Palestinian refugee agency (UNRWA), after facing fierce criticism for cutting aid during Israel's war in Gaza.
In a statement on Friday, Canadian International Development Minister Ahmed Hussen said the government is “resumpting its funding to UNRWA so that more can be done to respond to the urgent needs of Palestinian civilians.”
Canada had joined the United States and several other countries in cutting funding to UNRWA in late January, after Israel accused a dozen of the agency's more than 13,000 employees in Gaza of participating in a Hamas attack on October 7.
UNRWA immediately dismissed the employees in question and announced it would open an investigation into the allegations, which it called “shocking” and “serious.” UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres also appointed an independent panel to investigate.
Israel, however, did not provide concrete evidence to support its accusations. Canadian broadcaster CBC News also reported in early February that Canada had not seen any intelligence to support the claim before deciding to cut funding.
The decision to cut funding to UNRWA, which relies on government contributions to finance its operations in the occupied Palestinian territories, Jordan, Syria and Lebanon, sparked immediate concern and calls from human rights advocates to reconsider.
UNRWA is also the key agency providing critical humanitarian supplies to Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, where Israel's ongoing bombings and sieges have killed more than 30,000 people and caused widespread hunger and disease.
Humanitarian groups had warned that cutting UNRWA funding would have dire repercussions for Palestinians in Gaza and urged donor countries to reverse their decisions.
Since then, the situation in the Strip has deteriorated further, as Israeli military attacks continue. About a dozen Palestinian children have died in recent weeks due to a lack of food and water in Gaza, according to health authorities in the coastal enclave.
'Reckless political decision'
On Friday afternoon, Canadian human rights advocates welcomed the government's decision to lift the freeze on UNRWA funding, but stressed that the money should not have been cut in the first place.
“Resumpting aid to UNRWA is a much-needed decision and would not have been possible without the important advocacy work of all civil society,” said Thomas Woodley, president of the advocacy group Canadians for Justice and Peace in the Middle East.
“Minister Hussen’s cancellation of funding was a reckless political decision that should never have been made. “Canada's irresponsible actions threatened to collapse aid infrastructure in Gaza, putting the lives of millions of people at risk,” Woodley said in a statement.
“Canada must significantly increase funding to UNRWA to compensate for the harm its actions have caused to the people of Gaza.”
The head of the National Council of Canadian Muslims also noted that “there are no other agencies that can replicate UNRWA's central role in the humanitarian response in Gaza.”
“While funding should not have been stopped in the first place, the government made the right decision today by renewing and increasing funding,” the group's chief executive, Stephen Brown, said in a statement.
Pressure on Trudeau
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's government had faced pressure from pro-Israel lobby groups to maintain its freeze on UNRWA funding. Members of Trudeau's own Liberal Party had also urged him to withhold the funds.
Liberal pro-Israel lawmakers Anthony Housefather and Marco Mendicino saying In a letter on Thursday they had recommended “that Canada work closely with the United States and other allies.”
They urged the government to “leverage alternative partners and create new humanitarian aid vehicles that will meaningfully reach Gaza civilians in the near term.”
But experts and humanitarian groups have said UNRWA is best placed to provide much-needed assistance to Palestinians in Gaza.
At a press conference on Friday afternoon, Hussen said the decision to resume funding was “a recognition of the important and serious processes that the United Nations has undertaken to address the problems of UNRWA.”
It also comes in recognition of the “critical role UNRWA plays in providing much-needed support to more than two million Palestinians in Gaza, as well as… millions more in the wider region,” Hussen told reporters.
Palestinians in Gaza are starving amid catastrophic conditions. The need for life-saving help has never been more urgent.
Today's announcement from Canada 🇨🇦 on the resumption of funding to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) will save lives.
There are no others… pic.twitter.com/lYQalSibi1
– NCCM (@nccm) March 8, 2024
