Italy announced today, Saturday, that it will resume funding for the UN Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), after suspending it on the grounds that agency employees participated in the attack on Gaza border settlements on October 7. Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani informed Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammad Mustafa today that "Rome will resume funding for the Relief Agency." Tajani stated in a press release: "I informed Mustafa that the government has prepared new funding for the Palestinian people totaling 35 million euros, of which 5 million will be allocated to UNRWA."
Many Western countries had suspended their funding for the international organization after Israel claimed in January that 12 UNRWA employees participated in the October 7 attack. Israel has not provided evidence of the involvement of agency employees in the attack, which has led many countries that suspended funding for UNRWA to resume it. Notably, in the weeks following the Israeli accusations, approximately 15 countries, including major donor countries such as the United States, Germany, Sweden, and Japan, suspended a total of 450 million dollars in funding for the agency.
