Finland to resume funding to UN Palestinian refugee agency

HELSINKI

Finland will resume funding to the U.N. agency for Palestinian refugees UNRWA, Foreign Trade and Development Minister Ville Tavio announced on Friday.

Finland suspended its yearly funding of five million euros in January, following Israel's allegations that 12 of the U.N. agency's 30,000 employees were involved in the Hamas attack on Oct. 7, which led to the deaths of around 1,160 people.

Some 15 countries including Britain, Germany, Japan and the United States paused funding following the accusations.

Australia, Canada and Sweden, which were among those states, announced earlier this month they were resuming aid.

"Improvement of UNRWA's risk management, meaning preventing misconduct and initiating close monitoring, provides us with sufficient guarantees at this point for resuming the support," Tavio said in a statement.

Ten percent of the Finnish funding will be allocated to risk management, the minister said.

Israel's bombardment of Gaza since Hamas' attack in October has killed almost 32,000 people, according to the health ministry in the Hamas-run territory.

UNRWA is the largest aid organisation in Gaza.