On Wednesday, Saudi Arabia signed a memorandum to fund the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) with $40 million, to support its role in the Gaza Strip.

The Saudi News Agency, SPA, said that the King Salman Relief Center signed with UNRWA, via video call, a financial support memorandum of $40 million to support the agency’s emergency appeal in the Gaza Strip.

The memorandum was signed, according to the Saudi agency, by the Advisor to the Royal Court and the General Supervisor of the Center, Abdullah bin Abdulaziz Al-Rabiah, and the Commissioner-General of UNRWA, Philippe Lazzarini.

According to the agreement, the food security sector will be supported for the Palestinian people in Gaza, benefiting 250,638 individuals from the most needy groups, in addition to providing shelter and non-food materials to 20,19 families, amounting to 200,190 individuals, according to the same source.

The agency indicated, "This comes within the framework of the tireless efforts made by the Kingdom through the center to provide relief to the affected Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip, in order to alleviate their suffering as a result of the current humanitarian crisis they are going through."

As a result of the war and Israeli restrictions, the residents of Gaza, especially the Gaza and northern governorates, are on the verge of famine, in light of a severe scarcity of food, water, medicine and fuel supplies, with the displacement of about two million Palestinians from the Strip, which has been besieged by Israel for 17 years.

Since last January 26, 18 countries and the European Union have suspended their funding to the UN agency, against the backdrop of Israeli allegations that a number of its employees participated in the attack on settlements adjacent to the Gaza Strip on October 7, 2023, while the agency announced that it is investigating those allegations.

However, this March, some of these parties began reviewing their decisions regarding UNRWA, as the European Commission said that it would release 50 million euros ($54.7 million) of funding for UNRWA, while Sweden announced the resumption of funding for UNRWA with about 20 million dollars after Obtaining guarantees from the UN agency to conduct additional audits of its expenses and employees.

During the crisis of suspending funding for UNRWA, Saudi Arabia stressed its “total rejection of compromising” the role of the UN agency and “the mandate granted to it, and to the means of blackmail and pressure to which it is exposed,” according to what was stated by its permanent ambassador to the United Nations, Abdulaziz Al-Wasel.