Norway announced on Monday that it will increase its financial aid to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) by 100 million kroner (8.7 million euros).
“UNRWA is the backbone of the humanitarian response in Gaza,” Norwegian Minister of International Development Anne Beth Christiansen Tevenrim said in a statement.
She added that the current circumstances “have placed UNRWA in a very difficult financial situation.”
A report prepared by UN-authorized experts headed by former French Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna last April concluded that Israel had not provided “evidence” of alleged links of some agency employees with “terrorist organizations.”
The Norwegian Department for International Development said that the amount of 100 million kroner is in addition to the 275 million kroner that Norway donated in February to the United Nations agency, noting that about 200 employees of the agency have been killed since the beginning of the crisis in the Gaza Strip.
On Friday, the Group of Seven considered that UNRWA should be able to work without obstacles in the Gaza Strip.
The G7 heads of state and government said that the parties must “facilitate the rapid and unhindered passage of humanitarian aid to civilians in need” in the Strip.
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