Japan Joins Growing Number of Nations to Pause Funding to UN’s Palestinian Agency

Palestinians stand at the entrance of the UNRWA-run University College for Educational Science Ramallah city in the occupied West Bank on January 29, 2024. UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres pleaded for continued support for UNRWA, the United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees, which is threatened by a fierce row over alleged staff involvement in Hamas's October 7 attack that started the war. (Photo by Jaafar ASHTIYEH / AFP) Photo by JAAFAR ASHTIYEH/AFP via Getty Images

Japan is suspending its funding to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) in Gaza after allegations emerged that its staffers were involved in Hamas’s Oct. 7, 2023, terror attack on Israel.

Japan is “extremely concerned” about the allegations and has decided to suspend “additional funding” for the agency “while UNRWA conducts an investigation into the matter,” foreign press secretary Kobayashi Maki said in a statement on Jan. 28.

The country has also urged UNRWA to initiate a probe “in a prompt and complete manner” and take appropriate measures, including “strengthening governance within UNRWA,” Mr. Maki said.

“At the same time, Japan will continue to make persistent and active diplomatic efforts to improve the humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip and to calm down the situation as soon as possible by providing support to other international organizations,” he added.

Japan is the latest country to join the United States, Australia, and Canada in pausing funding to UNRWA. Several European countries, including France, Britain, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Finland, Iceland, and Estonia, have also made similar moves.

UNRWA Warns Lifeline For Palestinians ‘Could Collapse’

Philippe Lazzarini, UNRWA commissioner-general, said on Jan. 27 that it would be “immensely irresponsible” to sanction the agency and the entire community it serves amid the ongoing war in Gaza.

He urged the countries to reconsider their decisions, saying “the lives of people in Gaza depend on this support.”

“Some 3,000 core staff out of 13,000 in Gaza continue to report to work, giving their communities a lifeline which can collapse anytime now due to lack of funding,” Mr. Lazzarini said in a statement.

Mr. Lazzarini said the highest investigative authority in the U.N. system has already been seized of this “very serious matter.”

“It is shocking to see a suspension of funds to the agency in reaction to allegations against a small group of staff, especially given the immediate action that UNRWA took by terminating their contracts and asking for a transparent independent investigation,” he added.

Previously, on Jan. 26, Mr. Lazzarini said he had decided to terminate the contracts of some staff members to protect the agency’s ability to deliver humanitarian assistance.

He didn’t disclose the number of employees allegedly involved in the attacks nor the nature of their alleged involvement.

However, Mr. Lazzarini said that “any UNRWA employee who was involved in acts of terror” would be held accountable, including through criminal prosecution.

Displaced Palestinian people sit on benches as they wait outside a clinic of the U.N. Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip on Jan. 28, 2024. AFP via Getty Images

“These shocking allegations come as more than 2 million people in Gaza depend on lifesaving assistance that the agency has been providing since the war began,” he stated.

The relief agency has played a key role in providing aid for the enclave’s population since the Israel–Hamas war broke out. It has also faced long-running criticism from Israel and others, who accuse the group of coordinating with groups considered terrorist by the United States and many of its allies, and of using teaching materials that foster anti-Semitism and extremist jihadism in Palestinian schools.

In 2018, then-U.S. President Donald Trump cut funding for UNRWA, but President Joe Biden resumed it after assuming office.

On Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas-led terrorists carried out surprise attacks on Israel, slaughtering some 1,200 Israelis and kidnapping more than 240 hostages. The death toll in Gaza has since reached more than 26,000, according to the Hamas-controlled Gaza health ministry. Israel estimates that it has killed about 9,000 Hamas terrorists in Gaza since the start of its military operations to neutralize Hamas.

Lily Zhou and Reuters contributed to this report.