Finland discontinues €20 million UNRWA funding agreement

Finnish Foreign Trade Minister Ville Tavio previously suspended contributions to the agency in 2024 over allegations that UNRWA employees participated in Hamas’s October 7 massacre.

Finland has chosen not to renew its multi-year funding agreement with the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) after it expires this year, Finnish Foreign Trade Minister Ville Tavio announced on Thursday.

The multi-year agreement, which was signed in March 2023, included Finland contributing a total of 20 million euros to UNRWA. It followed a previous 2019-2022 agreement, throughout which Finland provided 5 million euros to the agency each year.

In a post on X/Twitter, Tavio clarified that his country will not reduce its funding for humanitarian efforts in Palestinian territories and will instead contribute to organizations like the World Food Programme.

Finland previously halted UNRWA funding over alleged ties to terrorism

Tavio previously ordered Finland to suspend its contributions to the agency in 2024 over allegations that UNRWA employees participated in Hamas’s October 7, 2023 massacre against Israel.

In a January 2024 press release, Tavio asserted that his country “must make sure that not a single euro of Finland's money goes to Hamas or other terrorists” and urged that the allegations be seriously investigated.

In March 2024, Tavio reinstated the funding, citing alleged UN efforts to improve oversight of UNRWA as the reason for continuing Finland’s contributions to the agency. At the time, Tavio noted that faults in UNRWA's risk management remained and acknowledged that information regarding UNRWA employees' ties to Hamas had not yet been fully uncovered.

Israel praises Finland's decision to stop funding UNRWA

The Foreign Ministry praised Finland’s decision to discontinue the funding agreement in an X post on Friday.

“It is good to see more countries recognizing the undeniable truth in light of the conclusive evidence of UNRWA employees’ involvement in the October 7 massacre and UNRWA’s inseparable links to Hamas,” the ministry stated.

“UNRWA is a hotbed of terrorism. It is part of the problem, not part of the solution.”

Since the 2024 allegations, UNRWA has been plagued by additional accusations and investigations, with multiple employees being found to have participated in the October 7 massacre and maintained ties to terrorist organizations such as Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ).

Most recently, the US State Department recommended that three UNRWA staffers be disbarred for their participation in the October 7 massacre and for holding hostages kidnapped during the massacre.

According to the US Agency for International Development’s Office of Inspector General, the staffers were all former school teachers. Two of them are alleged to be Hamas terrorists who were involved in the taking and holding of hostages. The third teacher was identified as a PIJ terrorist accused of infiltrating Israel during the October 7 massacre.