Photo: Collected
The decision by Canada and Sweden to resume funding for the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) is a serious mistake, the Israeli Foreign Ministry said, calling the governments of the two countries not to support the organization.
"The decisions by Canada and Sweden to restore funding to UNRWA - after having received the intelligence-based information about the organization's employees who participated in the 7 October massacre and prior to the completion of the work of the investigative bodies and the publication of their findings - is a serious mistake that constitutes tacit agreement and support by the governments of Canada and Sweden to continuing to ignore the involvement of UNRWA employees in terrorist activity," said the spokesman for the ministry, Lior Haiat.
Israel calls on the governments of Canada and Sweden to stop funding and supporting an organization "whose ranks include hundreds of members of the Hamas terrorist organization," the statement added.
UNRWA is the primary humanitarian agency in the Gaza Strip, with over 2 million people depending on it for their survival. In January, Israel shared data with the agency's leadership on the alleged involvement of some of its staff members in the October 7 Hamas attack and vowed to hold accountable anyone involved in "acts of terror." The United States, Finland, Italy, Australia, Canada, Japan, the United Kingdom and some other countries responded by suspending funding for the agency. In early February, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres appointed an independent review panel led by former French Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna to examine UNRWA activities.
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