Japan joins Western allies to halt funding for UN agency in Palestine

Japan has joined the US, UK and other Western nations to halt funding to the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) over Israeli allegations that some staffers of the humanitarian organization were involved in the Oct. 7 offensive by Hamas.

The Foreign Ministry in a statement late Sunday said it decided to halt "additional aid for the time being while UNRWA conducts an investigation into the matter and considers measures to address the allegations."

Tokyo, however, acknowledged that the agency "plays a crucial role" in providing essential services such as health and medical care, education, welfare, and food assistance to millions of Palestinian refugees in cooperation with the international community.

"Especially in the Gaza Strip, where the humanitarian situation is deteriorating further, UNRWA plays a vital role in delivering essential humanitarian assistance to each and every resident," it said.

So far, the US, Italy, Australia, Canada, the UK, France, and Finland have all decided to suspend funding to the UN agency.

Despite an International Court of Justice (ICJ) ruling to prevent acts of genocide in Gaza, Israel continues its onslaught on the territory which has killed more than 26,000 people, mostly women and children, displaced more than 80% of its population and created conditions for a famine.

Israel says nearly 1,200 people were killed in the initial Hamas attack.

UNRWA has been the main supplier of food, water and shelter to civilians in Gaza during the conflict.

Meanwhile, Maldives has decided to seek an "opportunity to file a declaration of intervention" at the ICJ on the application by South Africa, citing that Israel is in breach of the Genocide Convention, said Foreign Minister Moosa Zameer.