Norway says international funding to UNRWA could soon resume as Qatar and Iraq pledge extra $25 million

Many countries that paused funding to the UN Palestinian refugee agency are likely having second thoughts and payments could resume soon, Norwegian Foreign Minister Espen Barth Eide says.

Several countries, including the United States and Britain, paused their funding to UNRWA after accusations that some of its 13,000 staff in Gaza took part in the October 7 Hamas assault on Israel that launched the current war in Gaza

Norway, a top donor to UNRWA, has maintained its funding and transferred 275 million crowns ($26 million) in February, its regular annual contribution, and says more could come. It is also lobbying countries that have paused funding to resume.

“I think that a large number of those countries who suspended are (having) second thoughts,” Barth Eide tells Reuters in an interview, citing the recognition from these nations that “they cannot punish the whole Palestinian society.”

“This is increasingly recognized and agreed by many,” he says after meeting Norwegian aid organizations to take stock of the humanitarian situation in Gaza.

“But then, of course, they need an honorable way out, which means they are hoping, I think — without speaking for individual countries — that they will get something from these investigations that suggest that they can say: “Well, we needed to suspend, but now we’re back.'”

The UN is conducting an internal probe into the UNRWA allegations, while former French Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna is leading an independent review.

Earlier today, Qatar and Iraq both pledged to give an extra $25 million to the UN agency.