According to aid organizations, including Save the Children and Doctors Without Borders Sweden, UNRWA's work "in many cases constitutes a prerequisite for other actors' operations" in the war-torn Gaza. The organizations describe the strip as "apocalyptic".
Ongoing Assessments
The Minister for International Development Cooperation says that he agrees that "Gaza is one of the worst places on the entire globe right now", and adds that Sweden is continuously assessing where Swedish support funds could be used most effectively.
Given the decisions made by the Israeli government, which in many ways severely complicates and may even ultimately make impossible UNRWA's operations, we decided to channel the support to organizations like the World Food Programme, Unicef, and the Red Cross.
Open to Change
He states that the Swedish government has been critical of the Israeli decisions that make it more difficult for UNRWA to operate in Gaza, and says that they are open to changing their stance if the situation changes.
But right where we are right now, where it is primarily the World Food Programme that gets in the far too few trucks – yet still gets in trucks – we assess that it is an example of an organization that needs Swedish support right now.
