Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government what safeguards they have in place to ensure that restoration of funding to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees will not result in UK funding being used to directly or indirectly benefit Hamas.

When the Foreign Secretary announced the resumption of funding on 19 July 2024, he said that UNRWA has taken serious action in response to the appalling allegations that UNRWA staff were involved in the 7 October attack against Israel. The government is confident that UNRWA is taking action to ensure it meets the highest standards of neutrality and is strengthening its procedures. £1 million of the £21 million of new UK funding will be earmarked to support UNRWA implement the management reforms recommended by the Colonna review. Together with other donors, we will continue to monitor UNRWA's progress on implementation of its action plan. The FCDO will also continue to conduct our own annual assessment of UK funding to UNRWA.