‘Crisis of Confidence’: Sweden Eliminates UNRWA Funding Despite Nearly Doubling Gaza Aid for 2025 

Latest Developments 

• UNRWA Cut Out of Receiving Aid: Sweden announced on December 20 that it would stop funding the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) — the UN agency solely dedicated to the descendants of Palestinian refugees — and instead channel its aid to Gaza through other organizations. Swedish aid minister Benjamin Dousa said that the decision was prompted because “[l]arge parts of UNRWA’s operations in Gaza are either going to be severely weakened or completely impossible” following the Israeli government ban on the agency in late October.  

• UNRWA’s Entanglement With Terrorist Operatives: Dousa noted that UNRWA was experiencing “a crisis of confidence,” citing its “lack of neutrality, hiring of terrorists, and antisemitic textbooks” in a post on social media. In January, the Israeli government shared a dossier with the Biden administration that revealed the participation of 12 UNRWA employees in Hamas’s October 7, 2023, massacre, leading the United States to suspend its funding of the agency. Israeli intelligence indicated that approximately 450 UNRWA staff in Gaza were terror operatives at the time of the attack.  

• Sending Gaza Aid Through Other Agencies: While no Swedish funding will go to UNRWA in 2025, the aid ministry announced that Sweden would nearly double its Gaza aid next year from $40.89 million in 2024 to $72.44 million that will be channeled through other organizations, including the World Food Programme, UNICEF, the UN Population Fund, and the International Committee of the Red Cross. A day before the aid ministry’s announcement, Sweden voted in favor of a UN General Assembly resolution sponsored by its neighbor Norway, which called on the International Court of Justice to outline Israel’s humanitarian obligations to Gaza and the West Bank and expressed disapproval of Israel’s UNRWA ban. 

FDD Expert Response 

“For months, UNRWA’s defenders have warned of catastrophic consequences if UNRWA were phased out of existence in Gaza. They claimed UNRWA was irreplaceable. The truth, however, is that UNRWA is quickly being phased out and replaced as the overwhelming majority of aid in Gaza now bypasses this Hamas front group and donors grow weary of continued support. Now, with an incoming Trump administration determined to defund and dismantle UNRWA, U.S. allies should embrace the reality of a post-Hamas Gaza that does not include UNRWA.” — Richard Goldberg, Senior Advisor 

“That the unwarranted halo effect protecting UNRWA is being steadily lifted is a welcome development. Also welcome is the acknowledgment by a cabinet minister in a European state that the textbooks provided in UNRWA schools have encouraged the hatred of Jews that manifested so appallingly during the October 7 massacre.” — Ben Cohen, Senior Analyst and Rapid Response Manager 

“The UN General Assembly creates an alternate reality in which Palestinians have rights and Israelis have responsibilities. Nevertheless, Israel has undertaken incredible steps to ensure adequate humanitarian aid enters Gaza; the problem is with distribution within the territory. If the Palestinians upheld their legal responsibilities and released all the hostages, this war could be over tomorrow, Palestinians could have what they need, and the UN would have no excuse for its series of Dreyfus trials against the Jewish state.” — David May, Research Manager and Senior Research Analyst 

FDD Background and Analysis 

 “10 Things to Know About the UN Relief and Works Agency,” FDD Insight 

“Turn-Key Alternatives to Replace UNRWA Immediately,” by Richard Goldberg and Bonnie Glick 

“Israel Passes Legislation Curtailing UNRWA’s Operations,” FDD Flash Brief 

“UNRWA Employee Claims Agency’s Vehicles Commandeered by Hamas in Gaza,” FDD Flash Brief