Denmark Confirms It Will Not Suspend Funding For UNRWA

Gaza/UNRWA Refugees

JAKARTA - The Danish government has confirmed that it will not suspend the distribution of funds to the UN agency for UNRWA Palestinian refugees who carry out humanitarian operations for Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.

Danish Foreign Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen said Denmark would continue to distribute funds to UNRWA according to schedule in March.

"UNRWA is an organization in Gaza that has the ability to ensure that civilians there live properly," said Rasmussen, as reported by local media, DR.

He said the discontinued distribution of funds would only exacerbate the humanitarian crisis. Moreover, UNRWA plays a role in providing water, health clinics, and vaccination services for the Palestinian people.

"The situation in Gaza is terrible, and if UNRWA is made crippled, the humanitarian disaster that occurs will get worse," said the Danish Foreign Minister.

Rasmussen said collective penalties for Gazan society would not result in any contribution in resolving the complex crisis in the area.

"Moreover, the organization has 30 thousand employees, and 13 thousand of them work in Gaza," he said.

Rasmussen also said that a number of countries that had previously decided to suspend the distribution of funds to UNRWA had committed to returning to providing financial assistance to the UN agency this year.

The responses of these countries to Israel's accusations regarding the involvement of some UNRWA staff in the Hamas attack on October 7 were merely "political signals", Rasmussen said.

Earlier, Rasmussen warned Dutch, Swedish, German and French foreign ministers at a previous meeting that if UNRWA collapsed, the crisis in Gaza would become increasingly violent.

In a statement on his official account on X, or Twitter, he said he had established a constructive dialogue with ministers from the Netherlands, Sweden, Germany and France to discuss efforts to restore trust in UNRWA.

However, he also said all charges against UNRWA employees must still be thoroughly investigated.