Norway, one of the few major international donors to continue funding the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), announced on Tuesday that it had paid 275 million kroner (€24 million) to the agency, to address the “catastrophic” situation of the Palestinians.

UNRWA “is much more than a humanitarian organization. It represents the commitment of the international community to meet the basic needs of the Palestinian refugees until a political solution to the conflict is found,” explained the head of Norwegian diplomacy, Espen Bart Ide, in a press release released by his services.

“It is absolutely out of the question for Norway to renege on this commitment at a time when most of Gaza has been reduced to rubble,” he added.

Most major international donors, including the US, Germany and Britain, suspended funding to UNRWA following Israeli accusations that 12 of its roughly 30,000 workers in the region were involved in the Hamas attack on October 7th.

These accusations “are shocking and we demand full transparency. There should be no tolerance for such actions,” Mr. Ayde emphasized.

However, “we must not collectively punish millions of people because of the alleged actions of 12 staff members” of the UN agency, he added, again calling on other countries that contribute to its funds to “consider the consequences” of suspending funding.

He called the situation “disastrous” for Gazans and Palestinians in the Middle East as a whole.