Ireland has welcomed the European Commission’s decision to release funding to the UN’s Palestinian aid agency.
The commission said on Friday that it would proceed with paying 50 million euro (£43 million) of its 82 million (£70 million) euro envelope towards the agency next week and increase emergency support to Palestinians by 68 million euro (£58 million) this year by funding other organisations.
It had also allocated 125 million euro (£107 million) of humanitarian aid for Palestinians this year and contracted the first 16 million euro (£14 million) of this package on Friday.
More than a dozen countries suspended funding for UNRWA (United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees) after allegations that 12 of its 13,000 Gaza staff members participated in the October 7 Hamas attacks.
The commission had originally been due to give 82 million euro to UNRWA on Thursday but wanted the agency to accept its terms for an audit.
The aid organisation has told the commission that it agreed to the launch of an audit to be conducted by EU-appointed external experts.
Ireland, which provided 20 million euro (£17 million) in core funding to UNRWA last month, had repeatedly called for other states to continue financially supporting the agency.
Irish premier Leo Varadkar said increasing funding to Gaza was “the right thing to do”.
He said that he would raise the “appalling atrocities” in Gaza during the traditional visit to the White House for St Patrick’s Day.
“As we saw with yesterday’s tragic events, people in Gaza are in desperate need of urgent humanitarian support. UNWRA is essential in getting it to them.
“In the face of such enormous need, increasing aid now, as Ireland and the commission have done, is the right thing to do. Ireland and the European Commission are very much aligned on this.
“I am glad that the commission has said that it will also step up its aid to Palestinians this year by 68 million euro – to be channelled through partners like the Red Cross and the Red Crescent – and I very much hope that the further amounts due to UNWRA later this year will also be issued without delay, once the UN’s internal investigation into serious allegations about UNWRA staff and the independent review group led by Catherine Colonna have reported.
“In particular, I thank the European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen, and Josep Borrell, high representative of the European Union for foreign affairs and security policy, for taking this decision.
“Palestinian people are not responsible for the crimes committed by Hamas and should not be subject to any form of collective punishment. Doing so would be a violation of international law and profoundly wrong and unjust.”
Mr Varadkar also said of the White House visit on Friday: “The reason why I go is so that I can talk to him about how Irish people feel and what they think about different issues. So that might have been Brexit a few years ago, where we really wanted to help the Americans around that, or the peace process going back 10-20 years ago.
“I know something that Irish people feel really strongly about is the appalling atrocities that are occurring, quite frankly, in Gaza.
“And I want to talk to President Biden about that and ask him to use influence that he has that I don’t have particularly to put pressure on Israel to agree to ceasefire, and Hamas as well,” he told Virgin Media.
Ireland’s deputy premier Micheal Martin welcomed the commission’s continuation of funding which he described as “urgently needed” by the Palestinian people.
In a statement, Mr Martin said: “After four-and-a-half months of relentless violence and displacement, civilians in Gaza are living in conditions that no human being should have to endure.
“Against this backdrop, the role and mandate of UNRWA is more important than ever. It is the backbone of the humanitarian response in Gaza.
“It is clear that UNRWA is the one organisation that has the bandwidth and capacity to provide services and distribute aid comprehensively across Gaza and the wider region.”
Mr Martin, who is also the Irish foreign affairs minister, said he welcomed engagement between the UN and the commission on investigating the allegations against UNRWA staff.
He said it was essential that all UN member states co-operated in full with the investigation and the review.
Mr Martin added: “This is a critical moment – for desperate civilians in Gaza, and for the stability of the wider region.
“The international community needs to step up now to support UNRWA, so it can fulfil its vital and life-saving mandate.”