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The Guardian - AU
The Guardian - AU
National
Daniel Hurst Foreign affairs and defence correspondent

Australian officials scrambled to understand allegations before Unrwa funding suspended, documents show

Australian foreign minister Penny Wong
Foreign minister Penny Wong, announced on Saturday 27 January that the $6m in top-up funding to Unrwa would be paused ‘temporarily’ after claims about the Hamas-led attack on 7 October. Photograph: George Chan/SOPA Images/REX/Shutterstock

Australian officials scrambled to “understand what the allegations are” against Unrwa staff and complained of “precious nothing in the public domain” hours before the government suspended funding to the “vital” aid agency.

New documents obtained by Guardian Australia show how the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade rushed to gather information after Israel alleged 12 Unrwa staffers were involved in the 7 October Hamas-led attacks in southern Israel.

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