By Anadolu staff
JERUSALEM (AA) - Israel’s finance minister said Thursday he plans to cancel tax exemptions for the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA).
"The State of Israel will not give tax benefits to terrorist aides," Bezalel Smotrich said on X.
Israel claims that 12 staff members of the UN agency were involved in the Oct. 7 Hamas attack, which Tel Aviv says killed nearly 1,200 people.
Several countries, including the US, the UK, Germany, Switzerland, Italy and Canada, have suspended funding for the UNRWA following the Israeli accusations.
The UN agency has said that it is investigating these allegations.
Established in 1949 to help Palestinian refugees across the Middle East, the UNRWA enjoys customs and tax exemptions on imported products for the agency’s operations. It is also exempted from VAT and taxes on fuel purchases for organizational purposes.
The UN agency’s expenditures in Gaza and the West Bank are estimated at around $600 million annually.
Israel launched a deadly offensive on Gaza on Oct. 7, killing at least 27,708 Palestinians and injuring 67,147 others, according to local health authorities.
The Israeli offensive has left 85% of Gaza’s population internally displaced amid acute shortages of food, clean water, and medicine, while 60% of the enclave’s infrastructure has been damaged or destroyed, according to the UN.
*Writing by Mohammad Sio in Ankara