NNA - Australia announced Friday it will resume funding for the UN's Palestinian refugee agency UNRWA, after investigating unverified Israeli claims that about a dozen of its staff took part in the Palestinian Resistance's Operation Al-Aqsa Flood on October 7.

About 15 countries, including the United States, Canada, Australia, and Japan pulled support from the agency earlier this year -- slashing its funds by an estimated US$450 million.

"The nature of these allegations warranted an immediate and appropriate response," Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong said Friday.

"The best available current advice from agencies and Australian government lawyers is that UNRWA is not a terrorist organisation," she confirmed.

After the Israeli accusations, the UN fired the accused employees and launched an internal investigation. UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres also tasked an independent group with evaluating UNRWA and its neutrality.

Phillipe Lazzarini, the head of UNRWA, has reiterated that "Israel" provided no evidence against the accused agency employees.--agencies 

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