By Staff, Agencies The Foreign Secretary has announced that the UK will lift the pause on funding to the UN Relief and Works Agency [UNRWA], the key aid delivery body operating in Gaza. In his first statement to MPs, the Foreign Secretary outlined that the UK will release £21 million to support its lifesaving work in Gaza and the provision of basic services in the region.

This funding will go towards UNRWA’s flash appeal for Gaza and the West Bank, which focuses its resources on emergency food, shelter and other support for 3 million people, as well as its wider work supporting 6 million Palestinian refugees across the region.

“Humanitarian aid is a moral necessity in the face of such a catastrophe and it is aiding agencies who ensure UK support reaches civilians on the ground.

UNRWA is absolutely central to these efforts.

No other agency can get aid into Gaza at the scale needed,” the Foreign Secretary told the Parliament.

UNRWA is the main provider of humanitarian relief within Gaza, and other UN and humanitarian actors depend on UNRWA’s distribution network to get aid to those who need it most.

UNRWA has provided 1.15 million people facing devastating hunger in Gaza with food parcels.