Japan Joins Growing Number of Nations to Pause Funding to UN’s Palestinian Agency

The UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) commissioner-general has urged the countries to reconsider their decision.

Palestinians stand at the entrance of the UNRWA-run University College for Educational Science Ramallah city in the occupied West Bank on January 29, 2024. UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres pleaded for continued support for UNRWA, the United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees, which is threatened by a fierce row over alleged staff involvement in Hamas's October 7 attack that started the war. (Photo by Jaafar ASHTIYEH / AFP) Photo by JAAFAR ASHTIYEH/AFP via Getty Images

Japan is suspending its funding to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) in Gaza after allegations emerged that its staffers were involved in Hamas’s Oct. 7, 2023, terror attack on Israel.

Japan is “extremely concerned” about the allegations and has decided to suspend “additional funding” for the agency “while UNRWA conducts an investigation into the matter,” foreign press secretary Kobayashi Maki said in a statement on Jan. 28.