Keep supporting UN Palestinian refugee agency, Saudi urges donors

Saudi Arabia said on Monday donors should continue supporting the main UN aid agency for Palestinians after Israel alleged several of its staff took part in the Oct.7 attack.

Supporters of UNRWA should "carry out their role in supporting the humanitarian tasks toward Palestinian refugees," the foreign ministry said in a statement carried by the official Saudi Press Agency.

This would "alleviate the effects of the humanitarian crisis in the occupied Palestinian territories," SPA said.

Several major donors, including the United States, France, Britain, Germany and Japan, froze their funding for UNRWA in response to Israel's allegations. Israel has also vowed to stop the agency's work in Gaza after the war.

The Saudi statement said "review and investigation procedures" related to Israel's allegations should yield "facts coupled with evidence." It also highlighted "the human sacrifices made by UNRWA workers," including deaths and injuries, "due to the indiscriminate Israeli shelling of relief centres in (the) Gaza Strip."

Ageence France-Presse