Canada’s future funding for UN relief organization in Gaza Strip still in limbo

OTTAWA — Canada hasn’t made a final decision on whether to resume funding to a United Nations aid organization in the Gaza Strip when its next scheduled payment is due in April.

Discussions continue on the subject, a senior government source said Wednesday, speaking on condition of anonymity. 

That includes talks with other countries that also froze funding in January to the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East, known as UNRWA.

Sixteen countries, including a dozen of the top 15 donors to the organization, paused their payments after Israel alleged that a dozen of the aid organization’s workers participated in the Hamas terrorist attack on Oct. 7. 

That day, militants killed about 1,200 people in southern Israel and took another roughly 250 hostage, triggering a devastating war. 

Authorities in the Gaza Strip, which is controlled by Hamas, say more than 30,000 Palestinians have been killed in the Israeli military response. 

UNRWA is the primary provider of social and humanitarian assistance in the territory, including health care and education. It relies almost exclusively on donations from UN member countries.

Canada has not missed a payment since announcing the pause in funding. Its payment of $25 million for this year isn’t due until April. 

International Development Minister Ahmed Hussen said last week that he had seen evidence provided by Israel and Canada would not make a decision on restoring funding until an investigation has concluded. 

“We have been working with our UN partners as well as donor countries that paused funding, like Canada, to ensure that we have a transparent, comprehensive investigation,” Hussen said in Ottawa on Feb. 28. 

His office muddied the waters by scheduling and abruptly cancelling a press conference with Hussen on Wednesday morning. 

He was to provide an update on the aid situation in Gaza, including a recent promise to help organize airdrops of humanitarian assistance. 

Then his staff cancelled it about 90 minutes before it was to begin.  

A spokeswoman for Hussen would only say it was cancelled for “logistical reasons.” She would not confirm or deny a report from CBC News on Tuesday evening that Hussen was set to announce UNRWA funding would flow as scheduled.

The cancellation came as Foreign Affairs Minister Mélanie Joly is in the Middle East to discuss the Israel-Gaza conflict with her counterparts in Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait and Israel.

Joly’s office said Wednesday it could not speak to the Hussen plan.

Canada’s discussions come after the European Union opted late last week to proceed with a partial delivery of its UNRWA funding. 

In a statement, the European Commission said it had reached an agreement with the agency that includes allowing the EU to audit it and “review the control systems to prevent the possible involvement of its staff and assets in terrorist activities.”

The EU said it would initially disperse 60 per cent of its funding — about US$54 million — and hold back another US$32 million pending the implementation of the terms of the agreement.

Norwegian Foreign Minister Espen Barth Eide told Reuters in an interview Wednesday he thought the countries that had pulled their funding were going to restore it soon. 

Eide said he felt most countries were having second thoughts about punishing all Palestinians in Gaza as a result of the allegations against a small number of them.

Norway, the agency’s fifth biggest donor, did not cancel its funding and was among several countries, including Portugal and Spain, that increased their donations after the Israeli allegations emerged.

Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese was asked about the Canadian report on UNRWA funding Wednesday in Melbourne and looked uncertain as he said it was the first he was learning that Canada might resume its donations.

“We will make an assessment at the appropriate time,” he said.

Canada, Australia and New Zealand have previously worked in concert on their response to the Israel-Gaza conflict. 

Their prime ministers issued a joint statement on Feb. 14 urging Israel not to launch a ground offensive in the southern Gaza city of Rafah. 

More than 1.5 million Palestinians are sheltering there, many of them having fled their homes in the north amid Israeli bombings. 

The three jointly called for a “sustainable ceasefire” and “rapid, safe and unimpeded humanitarian relief.” 

Aid efforts have been extremely limited since the conflict began. Ceasefire talks being brokered between Israel and Hamas by the United States, Egypt and Qatar failed to reach a deal Tuesday.

And the situation in Gaza has grown beyond crisis proportions.

“It is impossible to adequately describe the suffering in Gaza,” the UNRWA’s commissioner general told the UN General Assembly on March 4.

“Doctors are amputating the limbs of injured children without anesthetic. Hunger is everywhere. A man-made famine is looming,” Philippe Lazzarini said. 

He said Israel has not provided him with any more information since its initial allegations on Jan. 18, but he terminated the contracts of the accused UNRWA workers and launched an independent investigation that is still ongoing.

The secretary-general of the UN also commissioned an independent review of the agency’s approach to risk management and neutrality.

Israel has long alleged that the organization of inciting anti-Israel sentiment, an accusation it denies.

Lazzarini called the allegations that workers were involved in the Oct. 7 attack “unsubstantiated” and pleaded with countries to restore funding. He said the total amount of donations on hold is US$450 million.

“UNRWA has no capacity to absorb financial shocks. Especially while a war rages in Gaza,” he said.

When Canada said it was pausing its funding, it added another $40 million in support for Gaza via other organizations, including the World Food Program and UNICEF.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 6, 2024.

Mia Rabson, The Canadian Press