US increases aid to UNRWA to $223m in 2023

Palestinians hold a demonstration as they demand financial support to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA), in front of the UNRWA building in Gaza Strip, Gaza on June 20, 2023 [Ali Jadallah/Anadolu Agency]

The United States announced the transfer of $223 million to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) in 2023, an increase of $16 million compared to the year 2022, the State Department announced.

Israel’s Ynet website said the increase makes Washington the largest donor to UNRWA, after the administration of former US President Donald Trump America had stopped funding the UN agency.

The US has transferred nearly $1 billion to UNRWA since Joe Biden became president.

Israel expressed anger at the news, claiming that this support comes despite incitement against the occupation in UNRWA schools.

Such “incitement” includes Palestinian students being taught the names of towns and villages which Israel erased in 1948 to set up its state, and references to Israel as a “Zionist occupation” state that adopts an official policy of erasing Palestinian identity, stealing and falsifying Palestinian heritage and erasing the cultural heritage of Jerusalem.

READ: Israel anger as US raises aid to UNRWA by $16m

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