Israel denounces resumption of aid to UNRWA by Canada and Sweden

Photo: Agence France-Presse Canada and Sweden announced on Friday and Saturday the resumption of their funding to UNRWA, which they had suspended when Israel accused 12 agency employees of involvement in the October 7 attack at the end of January.

France Media Agency in Jerusalem

March 10, 2024

• Middle East

The Israeli government on Saturday accused Canada and Sweden of making a “serious mistake” by resuming their aid to the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA), which Israel accuses of employing “more than 450 terrorists » in Gaza.

“The decisions of Canada and Sweden to resume funding of UNRWA […] is a serious mistake,” wrote Lior Haiat, the spokesperson for the Israeli Foreign Ministry, in a message published on X, accusing these two countries “of continuing to ignore the involvement of UNRWA employees in terrorist activities.”

“Resuming funding to UNRWA will not change the fact that this organization is part of the problem and will not be part of the solution in the Gaza Strip,” he added.

Canada and Sweden announced on Friday and Saturday the resumption of their funding to UNRWA, which they had suspended, like other countries, when Israel accused 12 agency employees of involvement in the attack at the end of January of October 7 carried out by Hamas and leading to the deaths of 1,160 people in Israel, mostly civilians, according to an AFP count based on official data.

Israeli military operations launched in retaliation left nearly 31,000 dead, mainly civilians, according to the Palestinian Islamist movement's Ministry of Health.

Tensions between Israel and the UN agency rose further on Monday when the Israeli army accused UNRWA of employing “more than 450 terrorists” in Gaza, saying it was basing itself on information from intelligence services. .

UNRWA for its part affirmed the same day that some of its employees had “reported […] that they had been forced to make confessions under torture” when they were “interrogated at the about relations between UNRWA and Hamas and about involvement in the October 7 attack on Israel.”

The UN agency employs some 30,000 people in the Palestinian territories occupied by Israel (including 13,000 in the Gaza Strip), Lebanon, Jordan and Syria.