Australia working to resume UNRWA funding after October 7 allegations

The Albanese government is preparing to join with like-minded countries to resume funding the UN’s main provider of humanitarian aid in the Palestinian territories, after Sweden became the latest nation to do so.

The Swedish government announced it would follow the European Union and Canada and resume funding for the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), which has been investigating allegations some of its staff members were involved in the October 7 attacks on Israel.

Displaced Palestinians receive cooked food rations in Deir-al-Balah in the central Gaza strip.Credit: Getty

In the strongest indication yet that the Australian government is preparing to resume funding to the agency, a spokeswoman for Foreign Minister Penny Wong said: “The Australian government has been working with a group of donor countries, who also paused funding, on the shared objective of rebuilding confidence and ensuring aid flows to Gazans in desperate need.”

Other countries that suspended but have not yet restored funding to the UNRWA include the United States, United Kingdom, New Zealand and Germany.

Wong revealed in late January that the government was suspending a $6 million humanitarian aid package for the UNRWA she had announced during her trip to the Middle East earlier that month.

Wong has recently stressed that successive Australian governments have funded the UNRWA “because it is the only organisation which delivers the sort of assistance and substantive support into the occupied Palestinian territories within the international system”.

Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim last week revealed he personally urged Prime Minister Anthony Albanese to restore funding to the UNRWA when they met on the sidelines of the Australia-ASEAN special summit in Melbourne.

UNRWA chief Philippe Lazzarini said in a television interview over the weekend that the agency was “at risk of death”, but added he was “cautiously optimistic” several donor countries would resume funding within weeks.

Announcing the resumption of his nation’s funding, Swedish Development Minister Johan Forssell said: “The humanitarian situation in Gaza is devastating and the needs are acute.”

Sweden will give the UNRWA half of the $57 million funding it promised for this year, with more to come, after the agency agreed to increased transparency and stricter controls.

Israel had accused 12 of the UNRWA’s thousands of employees of participating in the October 7 attacks where Hamas killed 1200 people and took about 250 others hostage, leading more than a dozen donor countries to suspend funding.

A final report into the allegations by former French foreign minister Catherine Colonna is expected to be published next month.

Even before the October 7 attacks, the Israeli government and pro-Israel groups had accused the UNRWA of promoting extremism in the Palestinian territories and using an inflated definition of who counts as a Palestinian refugee.

Opposition Leader Peter Dutton last month called for Albanese to sack Wong if the government resumed funding the agency, saying taxpayer money should not go to a UN agency that was “affiliated or associated with a terrorist organisation”.

Sweden’s reversal on the funding came as a ship bearing tonnes of humanitarian aid was preparing to leave Cyprus for Gaza after international donors launched a sea corridor to supply the besieged territory facing widespread hunger after five months of war.

Cyprus President Nikos Christodoulides told reporters on Sunday (AEDT) that the ship would depart “within the next 24 hours”. World Central Kitchen founder José Andrés said all necessary permits, including from Israel, had been secured, and circumstances delaying departure were primarily weather-related.

The Hamas-run Gaza health ministry said at least 30,878 Palestinians have been killed since the war began. It doesn’t differentiate between civilians and combatants in its tallies but says women and children make up two-thirds of the dead.

The opening of the sea delivery corridor, along with the airdrops, showed increasing frustration with Gaza’s humanitarian crisis and a new willingness to work around Israeli restrictions. The sea corridor is backed by the EU together with the US, the United Arab Emirates and other involved countries. The European Commission has said that UN agencies and the Red Cross would also play a role.

Meanwhile, efforts to reach a ceasefire before Ramadan appeared stalled. Hamas said on Thursday that its delegation had left Cairo until next week.

International mediators had hoped to alleviate some of the immediate crisis with a six-week ceasefire, which would have meant Hamas released some of the Israeli hostages it’s holding, Israel released some Palestinian prisoners and aid groups would be provided access to a major influx of assistance into Gaza.

Palestinian militants are believed to be holding about 100 hostages and the remains of 30 others captured during the October 7 attack. Several dozen hostages were freed in a week-long November truce.

With AP, Reuters

Get a note directly from our foreign correspondents on what’s making headlines around the world. Sign up for the weekly What in the World newsletter here.