MARINA PINA

EFE

Updated Monday, February 5, 2024-12:22

  • Support Spain will maintain its aid to the UN Palestinian Refugee Agency despite accusations of collaborating with Hamas

The Minister of Foreign Affairs, José Manuel Albares, assured this Monday that Spain will continue to support the UN Agency for Palestinian Refugees (UNRWA) and will mobilize an urgent allocation of 3.5 million euros to maintain its activities in the short term. This was announced by him during his appearance at the Cooperation Commission in the Congress of Deputies.

"We are not going to modify our collaboration with UNRWA, it is an

indispensable organization

," stressed Albares, who has argued the importance of continuing to support the agency despite accusations of collaboration with Hamas. The scandal occurred last week, when a report indicated that twelve UNRWA workers had participated in the Hamas attack in Israel on October 7.

To know more

International.

Spain will maintain its aid to the UN Palestinian Refugee Agency despite accusations of collaborating with Hamas

  • Editorial: MARINA PINA Madrid

Spain will maintain its aid to the UN Palestinian Refugee Agency despite accusations of collaborating with Hamas

War in Gaza.

US suspends aid to UN Palestinian refugee agency after 12 employees accused of collaborating with Hamas

  • Editor: PABLO PARDO (Correspondent)Washington

US suspends aid to UN Palestinian refugee agency after 12 employees accused of collaborating with Hamas

When these conclusions were made public, the United States and twenty other countries decided to freeze their aid with this fund to support Palestinian refugees. This left the United Nations office in a critical situation, as it lost an important part of its budget, financed by donations from countries. "The situation of UNRWA

is desperate

and there is a serious risk that its humanitarian activities in Gaza will be paralyzed in a few weeks," said the minister in relation to the freezing of funds for the agency announced by the majority of donor countries.

Albares has assured that last week he informed the Commissioner General of UNRWA, Philip Lazarini, of his decision to urgently contribute 3.5 million. This new donation confirms Spain's decision to continue supporting the association, support that has been maintained since the conflict began. Thus, in 2022 Spain contributed 6.25 million euros to UNRWA and the amount tripled in 2023. Thus, the Council of Ministers approved last April, before the conflict broke out, to donate 9.5

million

euros for the payment of subsidies to vulnerable families in Palestine. On December 5, it was approved to contribute another 10 million euros to UNRWA, this time for the "humanitarian situation in Gaza."

Furthermore, Albares recalled that the organization has

30,000 workers

and only a dozen have been accused of collaboration with Hamas; which serves almost six million Palestinian refugees in Gaza, the West Bank, Jordan, Syria and Lebanon and that all of them would be affected by the paralysis of UNRWA due to lack of funds.

In search of a solution

The minister continues to seek a shared solution towards peace in the Middle East. Albares already warned last week that an escalation of the conflict could have "devastating consequences" for Spain.

That is why a tour of

Qatar

,

Saudi Arabia

and

the United Arab Emirates

begins this Tuesday to find common positions. With this new tour, Albares resumes the commitment expressed during his recent visit to Lebanon and Iraq to

visit the region

more frequently to meet with the main protagonists of the region.

The first stop will be in Qatar, a key country in the current mediation to end the crisis in Gaza. In the Qatari capital he will hold a meeting with the Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs, Sheikh

Mohamed Bin Abdelrahmán Al Zani,

among other activities.

The drive for solutions to

promote peace

in the Middle East through the implementation of the two-state solution is also the main reason that will lead him to travel to

Riyadh

. There he will hold a meeting with his counterpart,

Faisal Bin Farhan Al Saud

. The Saudi minister chairs the Contact Group of the League of Arab States and the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, and in this capacity he participated in the Regional Forum of the Union for the Mediterranean on November 27 in Barcelona.