Australia to resume funding for UN aid agency

Australia will restore a $6 million funding pledge to the peak United Nations body that helps the Palestinian people in Gaza after a seven-week suspension due to claims that some of the agency’s staff took part in the Hamas terrorist attack on Israeli civilians last October.

Foreign Minister Penny Wong said the funding would be released under “stringent conditions” in a new agreement with the United Nations Relief and Works Agency with tougher controls to ensure staff neutrality in the conflict between Hamas and Israel.

“The best available current advice from agencies and the Australian government lawyers is that UNRWA is not a terrorist organisation, and that existing and additional safeguards sufficiently protect Australian taxpayer funding,” she said.

But the decision provoked swift criticism from Israel’s ambassador to Australia and Jewish community groups who believe UNRWA facilities are being used by Hamas, that some of the UN agency’s workers joined the attacks on Israel and that aid intended for civilians was being commandeered by Hamas.

Opposition foreign affairs spokesman Simon Birmingham said the decision was “risky and reckless” because of the longstanding concerns about the UN body and the fact that the United States was yet to end its pause on funding.

The conflict in Gaza has displaced most of the enclave’s 2.3 million people, with chaotic scenes and deadly incidents taking place during aid distributions as desperately hungry people scramble for food.

At least 29 Palestinians were killed while awaiting aid in two separate Israeli attacks in the Gaza Strip on Thursday, the Gaza Health Ministry said. Israel’s military denied attacking aid centres, describing the reports as false.

In Deir Al-Balah, in central Gaza, an Israeli missile hit a house on Thursday, killing nine people, according to a Reuters report citing Palestinian medics. Residents said Israeli aerial and ground bombardments persisted overnight across the enclave, including in Rafah in the south, where over a million displaced people are sheltering.

The end of the Australian funding pause, which began on January 27, will be backed by separate moves to send a Royal Australian Air Force C-17A aircraft to deliver 140 aerial delivery parachutes for aid drops on Gaza by Jordan and the United Arab Emirates.

The government will also give $4 million to UNICEF, the UN agency that helps children, to offer help to Palestinians, as well as offering $2 million to the UN humanitarian and reconstruction coordinator for Gaza to help deliver aid.

Foreign Minister Penny Wong has made clear the government wants to resume funding for UNWRA.Credit: Alex Ellinghausen

The moves will take Australian aid to $52.5 million since the crisis began on October 7.

Australia paused the $6 million in additional funding to UNRWA after Israel claimed some of the agency’s workers had taken part in the October 7 attacks, in which Hamas killed more than 1200 Israeli people and took another 250 hostage. Hamas is listed as a terrorist organisation by Australian authorities.

Israel claimed that at least a dozen UNRWA workers joined the October 7 attacks and that more than 1400 of the agency’s employees were active members of Hamas or Palestinian Islamic Jihad, but these claims have been the subject of fierce disputes.

“Of the 12 people implicated, UNRWA immediately identified and terminated the contracts of 10, another two are confirmed dead,” the UN said on February 8, while promising an investigation by the UN’s Office of Internal Oversight Services.

Wong has been waiting on the outcome of the UN investigation into the matter, but said on Friday it was time to release the Australian money because of the undertakings from UNRWA and the fact that other countries chose to end their funding suspensions.

Israel’s ambassador to Australia, Amir Maimon, said it was “very disappointing” that Australia was reinstating UNRWA funding, especially before the UN’s review was finalised.

“Other viable options exist to deliver aid in Gaza and they should be utilised,” he posted on social media platform X.

Sweden and Canada ended their funding pauses last week, while the European Union said two weeks ago that it would proceed with the first tranche of €50 million ($83 million) for the agency this year out of €82 million ($135 million) promised for 2024.

Wong said the commitments from the UN agency would give Australia greater confidence about the neutrality of its staff and supply of its aid to people in need.

“The plan includes strengthened internal controls to ensure its neutrality, including rigorous requirements of staff and updated reports to donors,” she said.

The foreign minister emphasised that UNRWA was the only agency capable of delivering enough aid in Gaza to help the Palestinian people during the conflict.

“I know that there are people starving in Gaza. I know that the European Union and Canada have determined to unpause [their funding],” she said.

“I know that UNRWA is critical to providing this assistance to people who are on the brink of starving.”

The Australia Palestine Advocacy Network’s president Nasser Mashni welcomed Wong’s announcement as he said it had been distressing when funding was frozen.

“It’s heartening to hear the Australian government publicly recognise the integrity of UNRWA and to acknowledge the agency’s vital and ongoing humanitarian effort in Gaza and its support of Palestinian refugees across the region,” he said.

The Australian National Imams Council also welcomed the decision and said UNRWA was making a critical difference while Israel continued its “unrelenting and brutal campaign” against civilians in Gaza.

The Australia/Israel & Jewish Affairs Council said funding for needy Palestinians should be supplied urgently, but not through UNRWA because of the evidence that it employed terrorists.

“UNRWA does not promote the Australian government’s vision of two states living in peace, but has instead long been a significant barrier to achieving this goal and needs to be phased out as soon as possible,” AIJAC executive director Colin Rubenstein said.

Executive Council of Australian Jewry president Daniel Aghion said the government needed to find another way to feed the people of Gaza.

“Our community favours the provision of aid to civilians in Gaza who are in desperate need, but we are totally opposed to the use of UNRWA as an agency for delivering that aid,” Aghion said.

Birmingham questioned whether Wong could rely on the assurances from UNRWA about its neutrality when Australia could have waited for the end of the investigation and worked on concert with the US.

“Penny Wong should be releasing the advice that she’s relied upon – she should be detailing the assurances she’s had,” he said.

“By acting out of step with the US, we are failing to take advantage of the type of leverage that could get more effective outcomes.”

With Reuters

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