Norway increases funding for UNRWA as refugee agency in 'difficult' financial situation

Norway said Monday that it was increasing its funding to the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) by 100 million kroner ($9.3 million).

UNRWA, which coordinates nearly all aid to Gaza, has been in crisis since January, after Israel accused about a dozen of its Gaza headquarters employees of involvement in the Hamas attack on October 7.

That prompted several countries, including top donor the United States, to suspend funding to the agency, though many have since resumed payments.

"UNRWA is the backbone of the humanitarian response in Gaza," Norway's minister for international development, Anne Beathe Kristiansen Tvinnereim, said in a statement.

"The war, accusations made by Israel, continuous attacks on the organisation and funds withheld by major donors, have put UNRWA in an extremely difficult financial situation," she said.

An independent review of UNRWA, led by former French foreign minister Catherine Colonna, found some "neutrality-related issues" but said Israel had yet to provide evidence for its main allegations, prompting several investigations to be dropped.

The additional 100 million kroner comes on top of 275 million kroner Norway announced for the agency in February, according to the country's foreign ministry, which noted that nearly 200 of the agency's staff had been killed since the start of the war in Gaza.

Israel's brutal military campaign in Gaza has has killed at least 37,347 people in Gaza, while thousands more feared trapped under rubble as Israel flattens the enclave's infrastructure. 

Last week, G7 leaders said that UNRWA must be allowed to work unhindered in the war-torn territory.

After a summit meeting in Italy last week, the Group of Seven nations called for all parties to facilitate "rapid and unimpeded passage of humanitarian relief for civilians in need" in Gaza, particularly women and children.