Gaza War | Valtonen: Getting aid to Gaza is still important, even though UNRWA's support was suspended

Finland suspended its support to the UN Palestinian aid organization UNRWA over the weekend. Minister of Foreign Trade and Development Ville Tavio (ps) told HS on Saturday that he made the suspension decision himself.

The suspension of funding was related to accusations made by Israel that UNRWA workers were involved in the terrorist attack against Israel by the extremist organization Hamas on October 7.

Head of the Humanitarian Aid and Policy Unit at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Lauratuulia Lehtinen says that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs received information about the accusations presented by Israel on Friday. The information came to the ministry directly from UNRWA.

“The organization told us on Friday about the accusations against it. Also our office in Ramallah [Länsirannalla] has been in contact with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on the matter.”

Lehtinen confirms that Tavio made a decision on Saturday to temporarily suspend UNRWA's funding. He does not comment directly on whether the suspension of support was discussed in the ministry before Tavio's announcement.

“Of course, we at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs had been following the situation since Friday, when we started receiving information about the accusations concerning UNRWA. Tavio, the minister responsible for foreign trade and development cooperation, made the decision.”

Foreign minister Elina Valtonen (kok) says Tavion is the responsible minister in the financial matter concerning UNRWA. According to Valtonen, making the decision to suspend the support was thus within Tavio's authority.

Valtonen commented on the matter to HS by e-mail.

“The allegations against UNRWA workers are very serious,” he writes.

“They should be thoroughly investigated. We are closely monitoring the development of the situation at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.”

HS also interviewed the Minister for Europe and Ownership on Monday Anders Adlercreutz (r) in Brussels. He did not directly answer HS's question about whether Tavio had the authority to make the decision himself or whether he should have brought it to the ministerial committee.

Instead, Adlercreutz emphasized that the impact of the suspension decision should not be dramatic. According to him, the payment of support to UNRWA for the current year was not “on the horizon” but “in the future”.

“Finland's message was that there is ambiguity here and we want clarity. It is essential that, at the same time, it can be ensured that humanitarian aid is working there on the ground,” said Adlercreutz.

UNRWA is the most prominent actor in the Gaza Strip providing aid to Palestinian civilians. Education and social services as well as health care in the region have relied on the organization.

According to Valtonen, it is still important that humanitarian aid can be taken to Gaza without interruption, and that civilians do not have to suffer because of Israel's military actions.

“Of course, we hope that an explanation of what happened and the actions aimed at preventing the violation of UNRWA will be obtained quickly, so that payments to UNRWA can continue as planned. There are other organizations offering humanitarian aid in the region, such as the International Committee of the Red Cross, which Finland also supports,” he writes.

According to Valtonen, Tavio's decision and securing the continuation of humanitarian aid are to be discussed in the government this week.

In Finland has had a humanitarian aid funding agreement with UNRWA for the years 2023–2026, and it has been in the amount of five million euros per year.

So far, Finland is the only Nordic country that has announced that it will suspend support to UNRWA. In addition to Finland, however, about ten other countries assisting UNRWA have announced in recent days that they will stop funding the organization.

of the UN Secretary General António Guterres according to UNRWA, which has assisted the Palestinians for decades, may have to wind down its activities as early as February if donor countries withdraw from supporting the organization. Also UNRWA announced the same.

HS was aiming for on Monday, also Minister Tavio to ask if there could be conditions for the continuation of UNRWA's support after the UN's internal audit unit OIOS completes its investigation into the organization.

However, Tavio did not respond to HS's interview request. According to the minister's secretary, Tavio will not answer the media's questions until Wednesday.