UNRWA chief calls Swedish decision to end 'core support' disappointing

The UN agency for Palestinian refugees has said a decision by the Swedish government to end "core support" is disappointing.

In a post on X, UNRWA Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini said the announcement from Stockholm "comes at the worst time for Palestinian refugees."

"This is a sad day for Palestine Refugees and the multilateral system which Sweden has spearheaded," he wrote.

"Defunding UNRWA now will undermine decades of Sweden’s investment in human development including by denying access to education for hundreds of thousands of girls and boys across the region."

The Swedish government said on Friday that it would increase humanitarian funding for the region to 800 million krona (€69.3 million) next year but that those funds would be distributed through other channels, such as the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency.

Sweden's International Development Cooperation and Foreign Trade Minister Benjamin Dousa told local media that the decision was made in response to a vote in the Israeli Knesset to block UNRWA from operating in its territory, saying the ban would make channelling aid to UNRWA too difficult.

"The Swedish support must arrive and not get stuck in a bank account along the way. Because of Israel's decision in the Knesset, we are therefore forced to pass on the support to other organisations such as the WFP, UNICEF ​​and others," he said in a post on X.

Sweden provided 451 million krona (€39 million) to UNRWA this year.

In October, Israel's parliament approved legislation banning UNRWA's activities in the Palestinian territories, a measure that is due to come into force in late January.

Israel has long been at odds with UNRWA, accusing the agency of turning a blind eye to militants among its staff and of allowing groups like Hamas to use their buildings as covert bases.

UNRWA has denied all these allegations.

Israel has also claimed that some UNRWA staff were directly involved in the Hamas incursion into southern Israel in October last year which sparked the war in Gaza.

Those claims prompted several countries to suspend funding to UNRWA and after an investigation by the UN’s oversight body, UNRWA terminated the contracts of nine employees it found "may have been involved" in the attack.

For decades, UNRWA has operated networks of schools, medical facilities and other services around Gaza and the West Bank, as well as in neighbouring Lebanon, Syria and Jordan.

In Gaza in particular, it plays a major role in maintaining social services and the economy as the territory’s largest single employer and the source of education and healthcare for much of the population.

It provides assistance to almost six million Palestinian refugees across the region.