Sweden will no longer fund the U.N. refugee agency for Palestinians (UNRWA) but instead provide humanitarian assistance to Gaza via other channels, the Nordic country's aid minister, Benjamin Dousa, told Swedish broadcaster TV4 on Friday.
Sweden plans to increase its overall humanitarian assistance to Gaza next year © Mena Today
Sweden will no longer fund the U.N. refugee agency for Palestinians (UNRWA) but instead provide humanitarian assistance to Gaza via other channels, the Nordic country's aid minister, Benjamin Dousa, told Swedish broadcaster TV4 on Friday.
Israel, which will ban UNRWA's operations in the country from late January, has repeatedly accused the agency of being involved in the Oct. 7, 2023 Hamas-led attacks on Israel that triggered the ongoing war in Gaza.
Sweden's decision to end funding for UNRWA was in response to the Israeli ban, as it will make channelling aid to the Palestinians via the agency more difficult, Dousa said.
Sweden plans to increase its overall humanitarian assistance to Gaza next year, he added.
"There are several other organisations in Gaza, I have just been there and met several of them," the minister said, naming the U.N. World Food Programme as one potential recipient.
The United Nations General Assembly threw its support behind UNRWA this month, demanding that Israel respect the agency's mandate and "enable its operations to proceed without impediment or restriction".
($1 = 11.0323 Swedish crowns)
Reporting by Terje Solsvik
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Thursday he had directed Israel's military to take more of Gaza, initially by seizing 70% of the Palestinian territory, where the population is already penned into a tiny strip of land along the coast.
Israel's ambassador to the United Nations, Danny Danon, announced Thursday that his country was suspending all relations with Secretary-General António Guterres until the end of his mandate on December 31, 2026.
The EU Council on Thursday imposed sanctions on four entities and three individuals for abuses against Palestinians in West Bank, it said in a statement.
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