Kuwait hands annual contribution of $2M to UN Palestinian refugee agency

By Anadolu staff

ANKARA (AA) - Kuwait on Thursday handed its annual contribution of $2 million to the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA).

According to the state-run Kuwaiti news agency (KUNA), Hamad Al-Marri, the Gulf country's ambassador to Jordan, said the contribution reflects “the Kuwaiti leadership’s keenness and its principled and permanent position to support the Palestinian cause.”

Following the unproven Israeli accusation that some UNRWA staffers were involved in the Oct. 7 attacks, many countries suspended payments to the aid agency in late January, pending an investigation.

Several countries, including Canada, Sweden, Finland, and France as well as the European Commission, however, as of the beginning of March, announced resuming funding to UNRWA.

UNRWA was established by the UN General Assembly more than 70 years ago to assist Palestinians who were forcibly displaced from their land.

Israel has waged a deadly military offensive on Gaza since an Oct. 7 cross-border attack led by Hamas in which nearly 1,200 Israelis were killed.

More than 32,500 Palestinians, mostly women and children, have since been killed in Gaza, and nearly 75,000 injured amid mass destruction and shortages of necessities.

*Writing by Ahmed Asmar