Japan will lift its suspension of funding to the UN Palestinian refugee agency (UNRWA), Foreign Minister Yoko Kamikawa has told local media, Reuters reports.

Tokyo in January decided to suspend additional funding to the agency while it conducted an investigation into an allegation that its staff were involved in the Oct. 7 Hamas attack on Israel, which sparked conflict in the Gaza Strip.

The accusations by Israel led 16 countries including the United States to pause $450 million in funding to the UNRWA, throwing its operations into turmoil. The agency is the largest relief body operating in Gaza, which has been besieged by Israel since the attack.

Japan is the sixth biggest donor to the agency, according to the UNRWA’s 2022 data.

Editorial

01 Aug, 2026

Maritime alliance

AS the US-Iran war drags on, new battle lines are being drawn. The pro-US Gulf Arab monarchies and Iran have enjoyed...
01 Aug, 2026

Local governance

INTERIOR Minister Mohsin Naqvi’s speech at a business summit on Thursday has stirred a hornet’s nest. His...
01 Aug, 2026

Murders in Balochistan

GOOD news is scarce in Balochistan. Seven labourers were abducted and gunned down in Turbat city recently. Four...
31 Jul, 2026

Expanding conflict

WITH neither of the belligerents willing to back down, and the theatre of conflict expanding geographically, the...
31 Jul, 2026

Spoils and spats

A FIGHT over assembly seats in Azad Jammu and Kashmir has laid bare what seem to be some deep resentments between ...
31 Jul, 2026

Unfair tax system

THE disclosure that the FBR collected nearly Rs1.9tr in sales and income taxes through electricity bills over the...