PARIS — European Union countries disagree on whether donations to the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) should be suspended pending investigation of allegations that some of its employees participated in Hamas' Oct. 7 attack.
By Monday, Austria, Romania, Finland, Germany, Italy and the Netherlands had suspended their funding, while France and others continued to deliberate their next move.
A French diplomatic source told Al-Monitor on the condition of anonymity that Paris fears suspending UNRWA funds will seriously harm humanitarian assistance to Gazans, as very few humanitarian organizations are still present and active in the enclave. "President Emmanuel Macron convened at the beginning of November an international conference on that issue exactly and has been leading ever since the international and European efforts on that front. As such, we cannot be the ones leading the suspension of UNRWA funds," he said.
Different donors taking different tracks
