Sweden will stop funding the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), the country’s aid minister, Benjamin Dousa, said on Friday.
Stockholm will find other conduits through which to send humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip, Dousa told the TV4 network.
Israeli Diaspora Affairs Minister Amichai Chikli hailed the move as a “courageous and critical decision by the Swedish government.”
“UNRWA, whose personnel actively participated in the October 7 atrocities, whose facilities became terror hubs, and whose schools spread Hamas propaganda and incitement, has lost its legitimacy to exist,” Chikli wrote on X.
A courageous and critical decision by the Swedish government. UNRWA, whose personnel actively participated in the October 7 atrocities, whose facilities became terror hubs, and whose schools spread Hamas propaganda and incitement, has lost its legitimacy to exist. pic.twitter.com/AIxxkpziOa
— עמיחי שיקלי - Amichai Chikli (@AmichaiChikli) December 20, 2024
An Israeli intelligence report released in January showed that at least a dozen UNRWA employees actively participated in the Hamas-led Oct. 7, 2023, massacre, and that the agency has hundreds of “military operatives” belonging to Hamas and other terrorist groups on its payroll.
The revelations prompted 17 countries—led by the United States and Germany, UNRWA’s biggest donors— to suspend funding. With the exception of the U.S., all have since resumed funding.
Earlier this month, Britain and Spain announced an increase in funding to the terror-tainted agency.
Meanwhile, the Dutch Parliament last week voted to decrease funding to UNRWA over its ties to terrorism.
That decision is a diplomatic victory for Israel, which severed ties with the U.N.’s Palestinian aid organization over it connections with Hamas and other terrorist groups, and a sign of no-confidence among some of Israel’s European allies that are looking for alternative avenues to provide aid.
The parliamentary measure, which was approved by a vote of 88-49, will see the Netherlands cut annual funding to UNRWA by €4 million a year, starting next month. This past year it gave the organization €19 million.
In September, the Swiss House of Representatives voted to immediately halt payments to the UNRWA over its ties to terrorism. The decision, which still needs to be approved by the Swiss Senate, was the latest back and forth between the legislative chambers over funding to the agency.
Last month, Israel terminated the 1967 agreement outlining the terms of its relations with UNRWA, a week after the Knesset passed legislation banning the organization from operating in the Jewish state.
