Israel sees "very regrettable" that Spain increases its funding to UNRWA without waiting for the investigation to conclude

MADRID, 5 Feb. (EUROPA PRESS) -

The Israeli Government considers it "very regrettable" that Spain has announced an urgent voluntary contribution of 3.5 million euros to the UN Agency for Palestinian Refugees (UNRWA) without waiting for the investigation into the involvement of some to be concluded. of its workers in the Hamas attacks on October 7 against Israel.

This was reported by sources from the Israeli Foreign Ministry to Europa Press, after the head of Spanish diplomacy, José Manuel Albares, announced that Spain will not only continue to support URNWA but will also provide 3.5 million euros to that can continue carrying out its activities in the short term, after other donor countries have suspended funding.

"We find it very regrettable" the decision of the Spanish Government "without even waiting" to know the result of the ongoing investigation after it was revealed that some of the UNRWA workers participated in the "massacre" of October 7 and the ties of this UN agency "with a terrorist organization like Hamas," the sources have pointed out.

On January 26, UNRWA announced the dismissal of several of its employees after Israel revealed that they had participated in the October 7 attacks and announced the opening of an investigation, to which the UN itself also joined. In fact, the UN Secretary General, António Guterres, appointed this Monday the external commission responsible for studying the integrity of UNRWA, under the direction of former French Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna.

As a result of these events, numerous donor countries, including the United States, the United Kingdom and several EU member states such as Italy and Germany, have suspended their financial contributions to the UN agency, while others such as Norway and Belgium have reiterated your support.

Albares already announced last week that Spain would continue supporting UNRWA in the current circumstances, although closely following the ongoing investigation, and this Monday, before the International Cooperation Commission of the Congress of Deputies, he once again defended that it is an "indispensable organization."

The minister has stressed that the UN agency not only works in Gaza but also provides care to 6 million Palestinian refugees living in other countries such as Lebanon, Syria or Jordan. What's more, he has highlighted, three out of four are not in the Palestinian territories.

According to Albares, the fact that UNRWA runs out of funds could mean that the 1.1 million Palestinians in Gaza who receive daily food aid "may or may not be able to eat tomorrow."

This new disagreement with Israel occurs after the diplomatic crisis sparked by statements by the President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, questioning whether Benjamin Netanyahu's Government was respecting International Humanitarian Law in its military offensive in Gaza.

Israel then proceeded to call the ambassador to Spain, Rodica Radian-Gordon, for consultations, who returned to her country on November 30. Finally, after the arrival of Israel Katz at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on January 1 and observing "a change for the better" in the Spanish Government's messages, the diplomat returned to Madrid in the second week of January.