Norway transfers $26m to UN Agency for Palestinian refugees

Norway announced that it has sent $26 million in aid to the United Nations agency for Palestine refugees, or UNRWA, after some countries decided to stop their support temporarily, Anadolu Agency reports.

Norwegian Foreign Minister, Espen Barth Eide, said on X on Thursday, “Today, Norway transfers $26 million to UNRWA, the UN Agency that supports Palestinian refugees.”

“UNRWA is the backbone of humanitarian efforts in Gaza. Its services are critical for millions of people in extreme need,” he added.

The Agency has been the main organisation providing humanitarian aid such as food, health, education and shelter to Palestinian refugees since its inception in 1950, and it is funded by voluntary contributions from UN member states.

The Agency supports 5.9 million Palestinian refugees.

The UNRWA has been providing relief to Palestinians for around 74 years, but its facilities have been repeatedly hit by Israel, with tons of food and medicine destroyed.

UN Secretary-General, Antonio Guterres, has called for an urgent investigation into Israeli allegations that Agency staff was involved in the 7 October attack by Palestinian group, Hamas, on Israel, in which some 1,200 people were reportedly killed.

However, since then, it has been revealed by Haaretz that helicopters and tanks of the Israeli army had, in fact, killed many of the 1,139 soldiers and civilians claimed by Israel to have been killed by the Palestinian Resistance.

The UNRWA has launched an investigation into Israel’s allegations.

Germany, Switzerland, Italy, Canada, Finland, Iceland, Australia, Britain, the Netherlands, the US, France, Austria, Japan and Estonia have all announced their decision to temporarily suspend financial support to UNRWA.

Norway, Ireland and Spain, on the other hand, said they will continue to support the Agency.

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