According to Spanish Foreign Minister, José Manuel Albares, Spain will send the UN Palestinian refugee agency, UNRWA an additional €3.5m ($3.8m) in aid.

This came as the UN agency has on numerous occasions warned of a significant funding shortfall as several large donors suspended funding after Israel accused 12 UNRWA employees of participating in the October 7 Hamas attack inside southern Israel.

Madrid contributed €18.5m (£15.8m / $19.9m) directly to UNRWA in 2023, including €10m ($10.75m) approved in December in the wake of the worsening humanitarian crisis in the territory since Israel commenced its military assault there.

Also, the Spanish Foreign Minister is scheduled to begin a tour in the Arabian Gulf on Tuesday, February 6, 2024, in yet a new endeavor by Madrid to examine prospects for solutions to the Middle East crises.

The Spanish Ministry of Foreign Affairs disclosed in a statement that Albares would go to Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, building on the talks he has recently held in Lebanon and Iraq, in line with Madrid’s bids to resolve the regional issues.

In Qatar, Albares is slated to will hold talks with Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Sheikh Mohammad bin Abdulrahman bin Jassem Al-Thani.

He will also meet representatives of Spanish companies working in the Gulf country and the Qatari Businesswomen Association (QBA).

In Saudi Arabia, he will hold discussions with his Saudi counterpar,t Prince Faisal bin Farhan Al-Saud, dealing with regional topics.
His trip will end in the UAE where he will meet his UAE counterpart, Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al-Nahyan.

He will hold talks with some officials on bilateral economic relations, visit Spanish and UAE companies to discuss business matters.

Meanwhile, the Jordanian army announced that the Royal Jordanian Air Force and the Dutch Air Force made the aerial drops in the vicinity of the Jordanian Field Hospital 77 in northern Gaza.

“The aid that was dropped contained relief, humanitarian and medical materials by means of special boxes equipped with parachutes guided by the GPS system, with the aim of delivering them to the specified locations and within the necessary timings,” the army said in a statement.

Borrell Calls Pause In UNRWA Funding “Disproportionate”

In a blog post, Josep Borrell, EU Foreign policy Chief, criticised the suspension of UNRWA funding, saying, “such a disproportionate response would be difficult to conceive elsewhere.”

“If some doctors in a European hospital were involved in criminal activities, there would be a thorough investigation and all appropriate actions would be taken.

“However, no government would ever stop funding the health service, as this would primarily punish the people who receive these services. The wrongdoing of individuals should never lead to the collective punishment of an entire population.”
Josep Borrell

In addition, Borrell argued the while the allegations against the UNRWA staff were “serious” and should not go “unpunished,” the agency was “central to the entire aid operation inside Gaza.”

He stressed that no other UN agency “could manage operations without UNRWA’s infrastructure, logistics and personnel.”

He pointed out that while some EU member states had paused their funding “the issue has been accompanied by misunderstandings and disinformation” and that neither the EU Commission nor Germany or France had decided to end their contributions.

UNRWA was established in 1949 following the war surrounding the founding of Israel, when 700,000 Palestinians fled or were driven from their homes.

It employs 30,000 Palestinians to serve the civic and humanitarian needs of 5.9 million descendants of those refugees – in the Gaza Strip, in the West Bank and in vast camps in neighbouring Arab countries.

“Should UNRWA cease or limit services, which may be the case as early as the end of February, it would significantly aggravate the ongoing dramatic humanitarian crisis. The lives of hundreds of thousands of Palestinians, not only in Gaza, are at stake.”
Josep Borrell