The first payment of $20 million will be disbursed after Sweden obtains assurances that UNRWA will control expenses and personnel.
Sweden has said it is resuming aid to the cash-strapped United Nations agency for the Palestinians, with an initial outlay of $20 million after receiving assurances of additional controls on its spending and staff.
The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), the main humanitarian agency in Gaza, faced an unprecedented funding crisis after its major international donors, led by the United States, cut their funding due to accusations of “terrorism.”
Like several other countries, Sweden suspended aid to UNRWA after Israel accused a dozen of its employees of being involved in the Hamas-led attack on October 7 before the conflict in Gaza.
Sweden said Saturday that “the government has allocated 400 million crowns to UNRWA by 2024. Today's decision concerns a first payment of 200 million crowns ($19.4).”
To unlock aid, UNRWA had agreed to “allow controls, independent audits, strengthen internal oversight and additional staff controls,” the government said.
The Swedish move came after the European Commission said earlier this month it would release 50 million euros ($54.7 million) in UNRWA funding.
On Friday, Canada announced it would lift a freeze on UNRWA funding, after joining the United States, the United Kingdom and other countries in cutting aid at the end of January.
“The agency risks dying, it risks being dismantled,” UNRWA chief Philippe Lazzarini told Swiss broadcaster RTS in an interview broadcast on Saturday.
“What is at stake is the short-term fate of the Palestinians today in Gaza, who are going through an absolutely unprecedented humanitarian crisis.”
UNRWA has been at the center of efforts to provide humanitarian aid in Gaza, where the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs reported last month that at least half a million – or one in four people – face the famine
Israel has severely restricted the entry of humanitarian aid into Gaza by land, prompting the United States and other countries to resort to stopgap measures, such as airdropping food into the enclave.
The measures taken by the United States, Jordan, the United Arab Emirates and Egypt have been criticized by aid agencies as a costly and ineffective way to deliver food and medical supplies.
UNRWA has said that Israeli authorities have not allowed it to deliver supplies to the northern Strip since January 23.
Al Jazeera's Hani Mahmoud reported that in northern Gaza “we are seeing children dying in this famine and forced dehydration due to the spread of famine.”
He said on Saturday that three more children died at al-Shifa Hospital, as a result of hunger and dehydration, raising the death toll 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 Hamas attacks on October 7 stands at 1,139, and dozens of them remain captive.
