Press release
Tánaiste announces €20 million in support for the UN Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA)
From Department of Foreign Affairs
Published on
Last updated on
From Department of Foreign Affairs
Published on
Last updated on
The Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs, Micheál Martin TD, today announced €20 million in support for the UN Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) for its work providing assistance to Palestinian refugees in Gaza and across the Middle East region.
The war in Gaza, following the heinous Hamas attacks on Israel on 7 October 2023, is now in its fourth month. 100,000 people in Gaza are either dead, injured, missing or presumed dead. 1.9 million people are displaced. The UN estimates that 90% of the population face acute hunger.
This €20 million will both support UNRWA’s life-saving work in Gaza and help address UNRWA’s critical funding crisis, which jeopardises support to 5.9 million Palestinians across the region.
Speaking during a visit to Dublin by UNRWA Commissioner General Philippe Lazzarini, the Tánaiste said:
“In Gaza, we are bearing witness to a humanitarian catastrophe. People are in dire need of the most basic lifesaving provisions – food, water, shelter. In these most harrowing conditions, facing the prospect of further military escalation, UNRWA is the backbone of the humanitarian response. It urgently needs support from all UN Member States.
Today, I am pleased to confirm that Ireland will immediately provide €20 million in core funding to UNRWA to sustain its vital ongoing work in Gaza, as well as across the West Bank, Lebanon, Syria and Jordan.
I urge other donors to resume and expand support to UNRWA so that it can deliver for the millions of Palestinian refugees in need.”
The Minister of State for International Development and Diaspora Seán Fleming TD, added:
“Ireland has made clear that there needs to be a dramatic upscaling in the level of humanitarian aid reaching people in Gaza. Today, Ireland is stepping up to provide €20 million to UNRWA to address the urgent needs of Palestinian refugees. This represents our highest ever annual contribution to the Agency to date.”
The additional €20 million announced today builds on Ireland’s longstanding support for the critical work of UNRWA. In 2023, Ireland provided €18 million of support to UNRWA, with a further €18 million provided to a range of partners active in education, human rights and democracy, and humanitarian assistance.
Note to editors
• UNRWA is a United Nations agency established by the General Assembly in 1949 with a mandate to provide humanitarian assistance and protection to registered Palestinian refugees in the Agency’s five areas of operation; the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, Gaza, Jordan, Lebanon and Syria, until a durable and just solution is found to the refugee issue.
• UNRWA provides humanitarian assistance and contributes to protection of refugees through essential service delivery to registered Palestinian refugees located within its five fields of operations (Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and Gaza).
• UNRWA’s mandate was last extended in a vote at the UN in 2022. The resolution which extended the mandate until June 2026 was supported 157 to 1 at the General Assembly with 10 abstentions.
• UNRWA’s existence is explicitly tied to the ongoing recognition of Palestinian Refugees from 1948 onwards as refugees, and, linked to that, the right to return, a key basis of a two-state solution underpinning UN resolution 194.
• On 26 January UNRWA announced allegations that 12 UNRWA staff participated in the heinous Hamas attacks on Israel. In response to the allegations, UNRWA immediately terminated the accused's contracts, notified the UN Office of Internal Oversight Services (OIOS) who launched an investigation, and the UN Secretary General appointed an independent Review Group to assess UNRWA’s controls. This review led by former French Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna commenced work yesterday 14 February.
• In response to these accusations, UNRWA donors responsible for up to 70% of UNRWA’s budget suspended or paused funding.
• There are 5.7 million Palestinian refugees in Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, the West Bank and the Gaza Strip.
• UNRWA’s Programme Budget supports essential services for Palestinian refugees in the fields of health, education, microfinance, infrastructure and camp improvement, protection, relief and social services across its five areas of operation.