EU announces $54m in aid for embattled UNRWA after agency agrees to audit

The European Union announces that it will pay 50 million euros ($54 million) to the main UN provider of aid in Gaza next week after the agency agreed to allow EU-appointed experts to audit the way it screens staff to identify extremists.

The UNRWA agency is reeling from allegations that 12 of its 13,000 Gaza staff members participated in Hamas’s October 7 terror onslaught in southern Israel. More than a dozen countries suspended funding worth about $450 million, almost half the budget for 2024.

The EU’s executive branch, the European Commission, had been due to disburse 82 million euros ($89 million) to UNRWA on February 29 but wanted the agency to accept its terms for an audit. The commission is the third biggest donor to UNRWA after the United States and Germany.

It says that the agency has now “indicated that it stands ready to ensure that a review of its staff is carried out to confirm they did not participate in the attacks and that further controls are put in place to mitigate such risks in the future.”

The commission says that two further tranches of funding worth 16 million euros ($17.3 million) each will be given to UNRWA as it complies with the agreement.

UNRWA is on the brink of financial collapse. In a post on X, formerly Twitter, UNRWA Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini welcomed the EU’s announcement and said that the commitment to provide money next week “comes at a critical time.”