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Britain Will Resume Funding to UN Palestinian Refugee Agency UNRWA

Youths gather with jerrycans to fill up water from a tanker truck in the yard of a school of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), housing Palestinians displaced by the ongoing conflict in the Gaza Strip between Israel and Hamas, in Jabalia in the north of the Palestinian territory on May 14, 2024. (AFP)
Youths gather with jerrycans to fill up water from a tanker truck in the yard of a school of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), housing Palestinians displaced by the ongoing conflict in the Gaza Strip between Israel and Hamas, in Jabalia in the north of the Palestinian territory on May 14, 2024. (AFP)
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Britain Will Resume Funding to UN Palestinian Refugee Agency UNRWA

Youths gather with jerrycans to fill up water from a tanker truck in the yard of a school of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), housing Palestinians displaced by the ongoing conflict in the Gaza Strip between Israel and Hamas, in Jabalia in the north of the Palestinian territory on May 14, 2024. (AFP)
Youths gather with jerrycans to fill up water from a tanker truck in the yard of a school of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), housing Palestinians displaced by the ongoing conflict in the Gaza Strip between Israel and Hamas, in Jabalia in the north of the Palestinian territory on May 14, 2024. (AFP)

Britain's new Labor government said on Friday it would resume funding to the UN Palestinian refugee agency UNRWA.
Britain was one of several countries to halt their funding to UNRWA following accusations by Israel that some of the agency's staff were involved in the Oct. 7 Hamas attack on Israel that triggered the Gaza war, said Reuters.
Britain's foreign minister, David Lammy, told parliament he was reassured that the agency had taken steps to "ensure it meets the highest standards of neutrality".
"I can confirm to the house that we are overturning the suspension of UNRWA funding, Britain will provide 21 million (pounds) in funds" to the agency, he said.

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Israel Considers Transferring Control of Gaza’s Rafah Crossing to EU, Palestinians

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (dpa)
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (dpa)
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Israel Considers Transferring Control of Gaza’s Rafah Crossing to EU, Palestinians

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (dpa)
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (dpa)

Israeli authorities are considering transferring control of Gaza’s Rafah crossing to the European Union and Palestinians, informed sources said on Thursday.
Though Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has scorned the idea of Israel ceding the crossing, Israeli officials were in talks with the EU and the US about the proposal, the sources told Bloomberg.
If enacted, the proposal could foreshadow an end to the conflict between Israel and Hamas and enable more aid to get into the devastated Palestinian territory, said the sources, who asked not to be identified discussing the sensitive talks.
The negotiations underscore the EU’s renewed diplomatic efforts to relieve some pressure on Palestinian civilians and help stop the war.
The bloc has for months called for a truce but had little influence over the Israeli government as it tries to destroy Hamas.
The EU helped run the crossing before 2007, when Hamas took control over the Gaza Strip.
Netanyahu said that whatever Israel does, Hamas won’t be allowed to retake control of any border areas. His government also insists on Israel’s forces remaining in the vicinity of the crossing and along the Gaza-Egypt border.
After a visit to Rafah on Thursday, Netanyahu said it was “vital” to hold the Philadelphi Corridor and the Rafah crossing.
Last May, the Israeli army launched a military operation in the southern Gaza city of Rafah, capturing the Rafah crossing on the Palestinian side and deploying its forces throughout the so-called Philadelphi Corridor that runs for 14 kilometers along the border with Egypt.
Earlier on Thursday, Egyptian Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty renewed his call for Israel’s army withdrawal from the Rafah crossing and for the Palestinian Authority to run the terminal.