Pause in US Funding of UNRWA Agency for Gaza Affects Only New, Not Existing, Obligations

A state department spokesperson told Pluribus "contributions to UNRWA obligated prior to [January 24] remain in effect."

On Friday, in response to allegations that employees of the UNRWA (United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees) had been involved in Hamas’s October 7 terrorist attack on Israel, the State Department announced that it had “temporarily paused additional funding” for the United Nations agency. The funding pause, however, applies only to new and additional funding, not funding already obligated before the pause went into effect on Wednesday, a State Department spokesperson told Pluribus.

When asked for details on what obligations would and would not be affected by the pause, the spokesperson directed Pluribus to a fact sheet released by the State Department on January 16, 2024.

The fact sheet reports that funding already committed or obligated to the UNRWA for fiscal 2024 for work in the West Bank and Gaza totaled $51 million as of January 16. Although the State Department did not directly answer questions about the amounts or the timing involved in distribution of funds, the spokesperson stated that “we are pausing any new or additional funding.  Contributions to UNRWA that were not obligated as of January 24 are suspended, contributions to UNRWA obligated prior to this date remain in effect.” [emphasis added]

Total contributions from the US to the UNRWA in 2022 were $343.9 million. According to a UNRWA announcement on June 1, 2023, the United States made a $153.7 million contribution on that date, increasing the total contribution for the year 2023 to $206.8 million, keeping the US the UNRWA’s most generous donor. In October 2023, the White House pledged $100 million for “humanitarian assistance for the Palestinian people in Gaza and the West Bank… through trusted partners including UN agencies and international NGOs,” but it is unclear how much of that aid was to be routed through the UNRWA.

The Washington Post reported in November that “the U.S. government is providing more than $371 million to the aid group this year and has donated more than $1 billion since 2021. The Trump administration suspended funding for the group in 2018, but Biden reversed that decision shortly after taking office.”

In response to the funding pause announcements of the US and other countries, the UNRWA issued a dire warning about its ability to continue to function:

Nine countries have as of today temporarily suspended their funding to UNRWA. These decisions threaten our ongoing humanitarian work across the region including and especially in the Gaza Strip.   

“It is shocking to see a suspension of funds to the Agency in reaction to allegations against a small group of staff, especially given the immediate action that UNRWA took by terminating their contracts and asking for a transparent independent investigation. The United Nations Office of Internal Oversight Services (OIOS), the highest investigative authority in the UN system, has already been seized [sic] of this very serious matter.   

“UNRWA is the primary humanitarian agency in Gaza, with over 2 million people depending on it for their sheer survival.   Many are hungry as the clock is ticking towards a looming famine. The Agency runs shelters for over 1 million people and provides food and primary healthcare even at the height of the hostilities.  

The UNRWA statement did not mention how much funding was at stake or how soon the pause in contributions would begin affecting its work.