The UK, Australia, Italy and Canada have become the latest countries to pause funding for the UN agency for Palestinians, UNRWA. This comes after the agency announced the sacking of several of its staff over allegations of involvement in the Oct. 7 Hamas attacks. UNRWA said it has ordered an investigation into information supplied by Israel. UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said he was "horrified by this news". "The UK is appalled by allegations that UNRWA staff were involved in the Oct. 7 attack against Israel, a heinous act of terrorism that the UK government has repeatedly condemned," the UK Foreign Office said in a statement. "The UK is temporarily pausing any future funding of UNWRA whilst we review these concerning allegations," it added. Earlier, the US State Department announced that it was suspending additional funding to the UN agency, saying it was "extremely troubled" by the allegations of UN staff involvement in the attacks. The EU also said that it would assess further steps "based on the result of the full and comprehensive investigation". The head of UNRWA, Philippe Lazzarini, said a full investigation into the allegations was being carried out and any staff found to have been involved in "acts of terror" would be held accountable. The Australian Foreign Minister, Penny Wong, said that her country would "engage closely with UNRWA on investigations" and was consulting its international partners. Wong added: "Australia will continue to support the people of Gaza and work to provide humanitarian assistance. We reiterate our calls for civilians to be protected, and for humanitarian access." This comes just days after Wong announced a near doubling of the humanitarian funding directed to "conflict-affected populations", "with a focus on women and children", in the occupied Palestinian territories. She pledged $21.5m (£18.4m) in new funding, including $6m for UNRWA. Israel's Foreign Minister Israel Katz said he aimed to stop UNRWA operating in Gaza after the war. He said that he would try to gather support from the US, EU and other major donors to the agency. The Palestinian Authority's minister for civilian affairs, Hussein Al-Sheikh, said the decision by some countries to pause support for the vital UN agency "entails great political and humanitarian relief risks". Al-Sheikh urged Western donors to immediately reverse their decision, adding: "We need the maximum support for this international organization." In a post on Telegram, Hamas's press office said the group urged the UN and the international organizations "to not cave in to the threats and blackmail" from Israel. Hamas killed 1,300 people, mostly civilians, in the unprecedented attack on southern Israeli communities on Oct. 7 last year. Another 250 people were taken hostage. The events triggered Israel's retaliatory attacks on Hamas in Gaza, which have killed more than 26,000 Palestinians, according to the territory's Hamas-run health ministry. On Friday, an adviser to the Israeli prime minister told the BBC that the Oct. 7 Hamas attacks had involved "people who are on their [UNRWA] salaries". Mark Regev said there was information showing teachers working in UNRWA schools had "openly celebrated" the Oct. 7 attacks. He also referred to an Israeli hostage who, on her release, said she had been "held in the house of someone who worked for UNRWA". "They have a union which is controlled by Hamas and I think it's high time that the UN investigated these links between UNRWA and Hamas," he added. The US, Germany and the EU are among some of UNRWA's biggest donors. The agency provides education, healthcare and humanitarian aid to Palestinians in Gaza, the West Bank, Jordan, Syria and Lebanon. However, it said it is struggling to get humanitarian aid to many of the estimated 1.7 million people — nearly three-quarters of the population — displaced by 12 weeks of fighting. A number of UN facilities where Gazans had taken shelter have been hit in Israeli air strikes. On Thursday, 12 people were killed when a UN shelter was struck in Khan Younis in southern Gaza. — BBC
