RIYADH, March  20, 2024 (BSS/AFP) - Saudi Arabia announced Wednesday it 
will donate $40 million to the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA, which 
has faced massive funding cuts and calls for its abolition spearheaded by 
Israel.

       The King Salman Humanitarian Aid and Relief Centre (KSrelief) said the 
funds would support UNRWA's "humanitarian relief efforts in the Gaza Strip", 
where the Israel-Hamas war has raged for more than five months.

       "The funding will provide food for more than 250,000 people and tents for 
20,000 families," KSrelief said in a statement. 

       The UN agency, created in 1949, has come under heavy scrutiny after Israel 
accused about a dozen of its employees of involvement in the October 7 Hamas 
attack on southern Israel.
       Multiple countries have suspended their aid, although the United Nations 
has said that Israel has not provided it with any evidence for the allegations.

       The UN has launched both an internal and an independent investigation into 
the claims.

       "It is crucial to address the desperate needs of the people in Gaza," said 
KSrelief chief Abdullah al-Rabeeah.

       UNRWA head Philippe Lazzarini said the donation "reflects the solidarity 
that the kingdom has always shown Palestinians".

       UNRWA employs around 30,000 people in the occupied Palestinian territories 
-- including 13,000 in Gaza -- as well as neighbouring Jordan, Lebanon and 
Syria.

       Lazzarini, a veteran of UN and other humanitarian missions, said last month 
that he believed Israel's aim was "destroying UNRWA", long at the forefront of 
relief efforts and education in Gaza.

       Humanitarian aid efforts have intensified in recent weeks, including 
airdrops and the launching of a maritime humanitarian corridor from Cyprus, but 
the UN and other aid agencies warn that these are insufficient to meet the 
desperate needs in Gaza.