UNRWA welcomes and thanks the United Kingdom for its decision to restart funding

Jul 20 (EUROPA PRESS) –

The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) welcomed on Friday the decision of the new Labour government in the United Kingdom to restart the delivery of funding, withdrawn at the end of January following the opening of an investigation into several employees for their alleged involvement in the Hamas attack on Israel on 7 October.

“We thank the United Kingdom for its renewed confidence in UNRWA (…). The resumption of funding is a testament to the life-saving and human development work of our teams across the region, including on the humanitarian front in Gaza,” said UNRWA Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini.

In a post on social media, the UN agency’s representative stressed the importance of this measure at a “critical” time, as the organization “continues to be the target of harsh and unprecedented attacks.”

The British government has made the delivery of the aid – which currently amounts to 21 million pounds (around 24.9 million euros) – conditional on the organisation having taken measures to “ensure that it complies with the highest standards of neutrality.”

In this regard, Lazzarini has assured that UNRWA is “committed” to implementing the recommendations of the Colonna report, referring to the external investigation headed by former French Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna.

The report concluded that there is room for improvement in areas such as neutrality and transparency, although it stressed that Israel had not presented evidence to prove the terrorist links attributed to several of its employees.

In January, Israel accused a “significant number” of UNRWA workers of “being members of terrorist organisations”, prompting Britain and 15 other countries to suspend or freeze funding, suddenly depriving the agency of $450 million and calling into question the continuity of its operations in the Gaza Strip and other areas of the region where there are also Palestinian refugees.

Following the decision of the new British government, the United States remains the only country that has not restored the delivery of funds.

UNRWA was established following the establishment of the State of Israel in 1948 through UN General Assembly Resolution 302 and began operations in May 1950. In the absence of an agreement on the Palestinian refugee issue since then, its mandate has been renewed until June 2026.