The government parties M, KD and L announce that they are redirecting Swedish support to Gaza, which has so far been channeled through the UN’s aid organization Unrwa, criticized for its ties to terrorism. This comes after Israel banned the UN agency from operating in the country.

Minister for International Development Cooperation Benjamin Dousa (M) states that they intend to circumvent the ban by instead channeling Swedish aid money to the terrorist-controlled Palestinian territory through other actors. Additionally, the amount is doubled from the current 400 million Swedish taxpayer funds to 800 million.

Earlier this year, the government halted the flow of millions of Swedish taxpayer money to the UN agency Unrwa, which specifically deals with relief efforts in Gaza. The reason was that it had emerged that the organization had close ties to and cooperation with the terrorist organization Hamas, which, after bloody purges of all political competition, governs the Palestinian region as an Islamist dictatorship.

Controversial after the October 7 massacre

Connections with Hamas became more politically controversial after the terrorist organization staged mass murder, mass rapes, and mass kidnappings of Israeli civilians on October 7 last year. Following what was vaguely described as “written assurances” that Swedish taxpayer money would not end up in the hands of Hamas, then Minister for International Development Cooperation Johan Forssell (M) decided to resume the flow of millions to Gaza through Unrwa.

Other aid-giving countries have acted in a similar manner. However, the Israeli government believes that the assurances provided by the UN are not sufficient. It assesses that Unrwa still collaborates with Hamas-affiliated actors in Gaza and has therefore banned the UN agency from operating in Israel.

Bypassing Israel’s ban

This means that, among other things, Sweden cannot channel any tax millions to Gaza through Unrwa. But instead of halting the controversial support – which many hoped would happen when the current government took office in 2022 – they choose to bypass Israel’s ban and channel the support funds through other organizations.

Specifically, another UN agency, WFP, is mentioned as a possible intermediary. The organization has recently redirected a large part of its general food aid operations to developing countries and begun to focus on support for Gaza.

Doubling aid to 800 million

There is no information on what, if any, assurances WFP has provided that it does not have any connections with Hamas-affiliated actors in that operation. According to Sida, it is impossible to operate in Gaza without having contacts with Hamas.

The UN’s World Food Programme (WFP) is also one of the organizations that most strongly warns of starvation in Gaza – claims that studies have shown to be greatly exaggerated or entirely baseless, and instead part of an anti-Israeli narrative. However, the Swedish government currently prioritizes finding other ways into Gaza for Swedish aid.

Minister for International Development Cooperation Benjamin Dousa also states that the controversial support will be doubled, from the current 400 million to 800 million taxpayer funds. This stands in stark contrast to the wishes of the voters to completely phase out aid to the terrorist-controlled Palestinian region and also withdraw the previous red-green government’s recognition of “Palestine” as a state.

Read all articles on Samnytt about Hamas HERE.
Read all articles on Samnytt about Gaza HERE.