Borrell Says EU Has Not Suspended Funding for UNRWA, Some Member States Increasing Support

MOSCOW (Sputnik) - The European Commission has not suspended the funding for the the UNRWA against the background of allegations of the involvement of UNRWA staff in the October Hamas 7 attack, with some EU member states saying that they are increasing their support for UNRWA, EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said Saturday.

"Let me make one thing clear: the [European] Commission – when we say 'the European Union,' we mean 'the EU Commission' - has not suspended its funding," Borrell told a news conference after an informal meeting of the foreign ministers of the EU member states.

Borrell said that "there were a lot of fake news, a lot of misinformation" on the issue, adding that Germany, France and Spain have not suspended their funding of the agency as well.

"Some Member States have suspended, but very few have clearly suspended [their funding]. Others have been taking just precautionary measures 'waiting for,' but not stopping payments. And this is the case of the [European] Commission: it has not stopped payments, among other things because the next payment is due at the end of the month. So, you cannot suspend something that is not moving," he said, adding that some member states said: "I am not only not stopping, I am increasing the support to UNRWA."

Borrell further said that UNRWA "has been playing a critical role [in] support [of] the Palestinian refugees, and not only in Gaza," as the agency supports "hundreds of thousands of Palestinian refugees in Lebanon and Jordan and in the West Bank" and is "feeding two million people, providing 30,000 medical assistance [actions] per day" and "providing school for more than 400,000 pupils."

"Certainly, we will ask for reviews, we will ask for controls, [about] the lack of accountability, but I can say that for the majority of Member States, the general feeling, is that there is no substitute for UNRWA. I repeat: there is no substitute for UNRWA," the EU official said.

Last week, UNRWA head Philippe Lazzarini said Israel had shared with the agency data on the alleged involvement of some of its staff members in the October 7 Hamas attack and vowed to hold accountable anyone involved in "acts of terror."

The United States, Finland, the United Kingdom, Italy, Australia, Canada, Japan and some other countries have since suspended funding for UNRWA.

On October 7, 2023, Palestinian movement Hamas launched a large-scale rocket attack against Israel from Gaza and breached the border, killing 1,200 people and abducting around 240 others. Israel launched retaliatory strikes, ordered a complete blockade of Gaza, and started a ground incursion into the Palestinian enclave with the declared goal of eliminating Hamas fighters and rescuing the hostages. Over 27,000 people have been killed so far in the Gaza Strip, local authorities said.

On November 24, Qatar mediated a deal between Israel and Hamas on a temporary truce and the exchange of some of the prisoners and hostages, as well as the delivery of humanitarian aid into the Gaza Strip. The ceasefire was extended several times and expired on December 1. More than 100 hostages are still believed to be held by Hamas in Gaza.