Good afternoon. The federal government is facing calls to reinstate funding to UNRWA – the UN agency responsible for providing relief to the Palestinians – after Australia joined nine other western nations and Japan in pausing support for the agency over the weekend.
Former New Zealand prime minister Helen Clark urged the government to reconsider, saying the decision could have a “catastrophic” impact as the agency was the biggest service provider in Gaza. Greens senator Mehreen Faruqi called the funding cut “blatant hypocrisy”, while Liberal senator James Paterson welcomed the pause. Government minister Anne Aly said she hoped the suspension would be “as short as possible”.
The donor nations paused funding after Israel provided the agency with information alleging that as many as 12 UNRWA staff were involved in the 7 October Hamas attack. Read this explainer on UNRWA – what it is and how dependent it is on western funding.
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