UPDATE - Norway expresses 'strong support' for UN agency for Palestinian refugees

By Burak Bir

LONDON (AA) – Norway reiterated its strong support for the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) on Tuesday, expressing sympathy over recent attacks on it.

In a statement issued by Norway’s Foreign Ministry, Minister for International Development Anne Beathe Tvinnereim reiterated her country's support for UNRWA during a meeting in Jordan with the agency's Commissioner-General, Philippe Lazzarini.

"Expressed my sympathy on the tragic loss of UNRWA staff in Gaza. Attacks on the agency are unacceptable. Humanitarian workers and installations are protected under international law," she said.

In January, a controversy broke out as a handful of the agency’s thousands of employees were accused of taking part in the Oct. 7 attacks on Israel by the Palestinian group Hamas. Without waiting for an investigation, some countries withdrew their funding from the agency and Israel passed measures making it harder for it to help Palestinian refugees, despite warnings that this would cripple aid to Gaza.

Separately, Sweden on Tuesday welcomed the adoption of a UN Security Council resolution supporting a new roadmap for a cease-fire announced on May 31.

"The situation in Gaza requires an immediate cease-fire, increased humanitarian access and the release of all hostages," the Swedish Foreign Ministry said on X, quoting Monday's statement by the European Union on the matter.

In its statement on Monday, the bloc said: "The EU recalls its full support to the comprehensive roadmap presented by United States President Joe Biden. We urge both parties to accept and implement the three-phase proposal."

Micheal Martin, Ireland's foreign minister, also welcomed the adoption of UN Security Council resolution 2735 calling for the urgent implementation of the cease-fire proposal, saying "we must see an end to this brutal war."

"I urge all parties to immediately accept and implement the cease-fire and peace plan," he wrote on X.

Israel has continued its brutal offensive on Gaza since the attack by Hamas last October, despite a UN Security Council resolution demanding an immediate cease-fire.

More than 37,000 Palestinians have since been killed in Gaza, most of them women and children, and over 83,000 others injured, according to local health authorities.

Eight months into the Israeli war, vast tracts of Gaza lie in ruins amid a crippling blockade of food, clean water and medicine.

Israel stands accused of genocide at the International Court of Justice, whose latest ruling ordered it to immediately halt its operation in the southern city of Rafah, where over a million Palestinians had sought refuge from the war before it was invaded on May 6.