Canbera Times/ Tess Ikonomou/9.2.2024
The stopping of aid was, and is, pure evil – all it does is further punish the innocent women, children and men – Mark
Australia is under mounting pressure to reinstate aid for Palestinian refugees after Penny Wong made a surprise admission about her decision to freeze the funding.
The foreign minister said she “did not have all the evidence” when halting humanitarian assistance to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency.
Australia’s suspension followed Israeli allegations UN staff were involved in the October 7 terror attacks by Hamas.
The agency has since sacked several employees and launched investigations.
However, there are increasing doubts about the Israeli intelligence, with several nations that also froze funding stating they’d seen no evidence to support the allegations.
The UN also suggested Israel refused to make the information available.
Senator Wong confirmed she sought but had not received supporting evidence from Israel.
The minister also spoke with the head of the Palestinian relief agency but received no further details on the allegations or investigations.
Senator Wong has signalled she is keen to restart the funding, insisting the UN agency is the only organisation capable of delivering aid to the 400,000 Palestinians starving and 1.7 million people displaced in Gaza.
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