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Japan joins countries suspending funding to UNRWA

This Sunday, Japan joins the list of countries that have decided to suspend funding to the United Nations Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) due to the alleged ties of several of its members to the Islamist group Hamas .

Japan is deeply concerned about the alleged involvement of UNRWA personnel in the terrorist attack against Israel on 7 October last year. In response, Japan has decided to suspend further funding to UNRWA for the time being while the investigation is conducted,” the Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

The Asian country highlighted the agency’s “essential” role in providing health services, medical care, education and food to millions of Palestinian refugees, particularly in the Gaza Strip, but called for a “formal investigation” into it.

This suspension of funding, which has also been done by other countries such as the United States, Canada, United Kingdom, Italy, Australia and Finland, comes after Israel claimed that a dozen UNRWA workers had been killed by Hamas in October. Took part in the attack. 7.

The attack involved the launch of thousands of rockets and a simultaneous infiltration of militants, who killed about 1,200 people and abducted another 250 in Israeli cities near the Gaza Strip.

UNRWA announced the immediate dismissal of several members of its staff and the launch of an investigation “to establish the truth” and “to protect the Agency’s ability to deliver assistance” in Gaza, where 85% of the population (1.9 million Palestinians are displaced and facing an unprecedented humanitarian crisis.

Japan, for its part, said it would continue diplomatic efforts to improve the humanitarian situation in Gaza and “calm the situation as quickly as possible” through assistance to other international organizations.

With more than 30,000 staff, UNRWA is the largest organization in Gaza outside the strip government, which has been de facto controlled by Hamas since 2007.