Stockholm says the decision comes in response to Israel's plan to block the UN from the end of January.
Sweden will no longer donate money to the United Nations refugee agency UNRWA and will instead provide more aid to Gaza through other means, the Nordic country says, criticizing the agency's leader.
“The government's main support for UNRWA will end,” the Swedish Foreign Ministry said on Friday.
UNRWA provides assistance to approximately 6 million Palestinian refugees across Gaza, the West Bank, Lebanon, Jordan and Syria.
Israel, which has said it will suspend UNRWA's work in the country from the end of January, says 19 staff members from the agency took part in the protests led by Hamas on October 7, 2023 in Israel.
After an investigation by the UN monitoring body, The UN dismissed nine UNRWA staff it found that he was “probably involved” in the plot.
Sweden's decision was made in response to Israel's ban because it will make channeling aid through UNRWA more difficult, Swedish International Development Cooperation and Foreign Trade Minister Benjamin Dousa told Swedish radio station TV4.
Sweden plans to increase its total aid to Gaza next year to 800 million Swedish kronor ($72.44m) from the 451 million Swedish kronor ($41m) spent this year, its foreign ministry said.
Aid will flow through several organizations, including the UN World Food Programme, UNICEF, the UN Population Fund and the International Committee of the Red Cross, the ministry added.
The new Israeli law does not directly restrict UNRWA's operations in the occupied West Bank and Gaza but will significantly affect UNRWA's ability to operate. UN officials have described UNRWA as the backbone of Gaza aid.
'sad day'
The Palestinian ambassador in Stockholm said in a statement that he rejected the idea of finding “other options for UNRWA”, adding that the organization had a “special responsibility to provide assistance to Palestinian refugees”.
The number of refugees depend on UNRWA health care, education, emergency services and social services, it said.
The UN General Assembly gave support to UNRWA this month, demanding that Israel respect the agency's mandate and “allow its work to be carried out without hindrance or restriction”.
UNRWA chief Philippe Lazzarini called Sweden's decision “disappointing” and coming at “a very bad time for Palestinian refugees”.
“The decision came a day after members of the UN General Assembly strongly approved a resolution supporting UNRWA,” he said in a statement on X.
“This is a sad day for the Palestinian refugees and for the various actions that Sweden has led,” said Lazzarini.
Meanwhile, Amichai Chikli, Israel's foreign minister, praised the Nordic country's decision, saying that UNRWA “has lost its ability to exist”.
Israel's Deputy Foreign Minister Sharren Haskel thanked Dousa for the meeting he held this week and Sweden's decision to stop supporting UNRWA.
“There are other appropriate and practical ways to help people, and I appreciate the willingness to listen and follow a different path,” he said.
Prior to nine UNRWA staff he was to be expelledIsrael said in July that some 100 UNRWA workers were members of Hamas and other Palestinian armed groups.
The agency said last month it had asked Israel for more information and received no response.