Finland suspends funding to UNRWA (UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East) because of the suspicion of several employees of the agency’s mission of collaboration with the Palestinian movement Hamas, which attacked Israel on 7 October.
“The Foreign Ministry calls for an independent and thorough investigation into the case,” the Finnish Foreign Ministry said.
Finnish Minister for Development Cooperation and Foreign Trade Ville Tavio said Helsinki must make sure that “not a single euro of Finnish funds goes to Hamas or other terrorists.”
“The suspicion that employees of an organisation receiving humanitarian aid are involved in a terrorist attack is grounds for suspending payments. The case must be thoroughly investigated,” the minister said.
Before that, Italy, Australia, the US and Canada suspended funding to UNRWA. Al jazeera reports that UNRWA has already launched an investigation into some of the staff members Israel claims were involved in the 7 October attacks.
