Government slammed by Coalition over $6m funding to UNRWA Gaza aid agency

“My view is we shouldn’t tolerate a single Australian dollar going to a potential terrorist organisation,” Senator Paterson said on Sunday.

Following allegations that staff members of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees (UNRWA) were involved in Hamas’ October 7 incursion in Israel that killed some 1200 people, Australia, alongside a host of other countries, suspended funding for the body.

But late last week, Australia followed the lead of Canada and many European Union nations in restoring support after receiving assurances from the body over enhanced due diligence and other internal control measures.

Senator Paterson told the ABC’s Insiders program said Foreign Minister Penny Wong’s reasoning was not good enough.

“The foreign minister said the advice was that UNWRA was not a terrorist organisation. Not a high bar,” Senator Paterson said.

“I think we should have higher expectations of our aid delivery partners than merely they are not terrorist organisations.”

Citing other accusations levelled at UNRWA, including claims it knew of a network of tunnels once occupied by Hamas operatives below its abandoned headquarters in Gaza, Senator Paterson said Israel had previously raised concerns regarding the agency.

“Those warnings were ignored and the consequences were employees participating in the worst attack on Jewish people since the Holocaust squid.

“I have no confidence that UNRWA has reformed itself, particularly because our closest allies like the United States and United Kingdom have not restarted their aid.”

Mr Paterson said alternative charities, agencies and aid arrangements should be considered rather than the resumption of funding to UNRWA.

“We had been hearing that in the lead up to this that there’s no one other than UNRWA capable of delivering aid. That is clearly not true … there are other charity partners operating in the region,” Mr Paterson said.

“We should do everything we can in the safest way we can to make sure that the listed terrorist organisation of Hamas doesn’t end up with Australian taxpayer funds.”

The funding restoration worth $6m comes at a critical juncture for the agency, which has become the principal conduit through which aid has been funnelled through to the embattled enclave.

With 1.7 million inhabitants displaced, conditions in Gaza are crowded with little to no sanitation, access to food, health care or drinking water.

Relief agencies, including UNRWA, have reported significant challenges in transporting the aid, citing Israeli blockades, lengthy inspections and the safety of staff among the impediments which have reduced humanitarian assistance to a trickle.

To date, the war has killed more than 30,000 Palestinians, many women and children, according to Palestinian authorities.

The United States, which was UNRWA’s single largest donor prior to the allegations, contributing almost $US350 million to the agency in 2022, has retained its funding freeze.