![Bags of flour are seen at the area where UNRWA (The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees) distributes flour to families as Israeli attacks continue in Rafah of Gaza on January 28, 2024 [Abed Zagout/Anadolu via Getty Images]](https://i0.wp.com/www.middleeastmonitor.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/GettyImages-1959960809-scaled-e1706451822142.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1)
The European Union decided on Friday to disburse €16 million ($17.3 million) to the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA), Anadolu Agency reports.
“The Commission has today processed a second tranche of assistance of €25 million for the Palestinian Authority to contribute to the payment of salaries and pensions of Palestinian civil servants and disbursed €16 million for UNRWA to provide basic services such as health and education to Palestinian refugees,” the EU Commission said in a statement.
This new payment to UNRWA brings to €66 million the EU’s total development assistance out of the €82 million for the UN agency in 2024.
“The remaining tranche will be subject to the implementation of our agreement with UNRWA and the Agency’s compliance with the agreed conditions and measures,” the statement added.
Many countries had suspended aid to the Agency over Israeli prosecutors linking its staff to the 7 October, 2023 Hamas attack.
Israel has repeatedly equated UNRWA staff with Hamas members in efforts to discredit them, providing no proof of the claims, while lobbying hard to have UNRWA closed as it is the only UN agency to have a specific mandate to look after the basic needs of Palestinian refugees. If the agency no longer exists, argues Israel, then the refugee issue must no longer exist, and the legitimate right for Palestinian refugees to return to their land will be unnecessary. Israel has denied that right of return since the late 1940s, even though its own membership of the UN was made conditional upon Palestinian refugees being allowed to return to their homes and land.
But most of the key donors resumed aid after an independent review of UNRWA found that Israel had not provided any evidence to back its claims.
Israel has killed more than 36,000 Palestinians since the initial Hamas incursion that claimed 1,200 lives. The blocked enclave remains in ruins, and the humanitarian situation has worsened by restrictions on aid delivery.
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.
READ: UNRWA chief: Israel’s allegations make UN staff legitimate targets
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