Australia will resume funding to the United Nations' main Palestinian relief agency, Foreign Minister Penny Wong said on Friday (March 15), almost two months after it paused ties over allegations some of the agency's employees participated in the Oct.7 Hamas attack.
She also appealed to Israel to allow more aid into Gaza, adding that it was a "prime consideration to recognise that we have children and families who are starving" there.
00:02 The best available current advice from agencies and the Australian Government lawyers is that UNRWA is not a terrorist organisation
00:16 and that existing and additional safeguards sufficiently protect Australian taxpayer funding.
00:22 Australia has been working with a group of donor countries and with UNRWA on the shared objective of ensuring the integrity of UNRWA's operations,
00:30 rebuilding confidence and so importantly ensuring aid flows to Gazans in desperate need.
00:38 Australia is unpausing our contribution to UNRWA.
00:42 The Australian Government has been briefed by the World Food Programme that there are large stocks of food outside of Gaza's borders
00:51 but there is no way to move it across the border into Gaza and deliver it at scale without Israel's cooperation
00:58 and we implore Israel to allow more aid into Gaza now.
01:03 I would also say it is also a prime consideration to recognise that we have children and families who are starving
01:14 and we have a capacity along with the international community to assist them
01:21 and we know that UNRWA is central and vital to delivering that assistance to the people who need it.
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