Germany, Scotland, and the Netherlands on Saturday announced that they would suspend funding for UNRWA, the United Nations group which in Gaza is controlled by Hamas.
In a statement to Nieuwsuur and NOS, the Netherlands' Foreign Trade and Development Cooperation Minister Van Leeuwen confirmed that the Netherlands will temporarily suspend UNRWA aid, saying, "We are extremely shocked. The accusation is that the attack was committed on October 7 with UN money, with our money."
"The Netherlands will not make any new payments to the UN aid organization for the time being."
A spokesperson for the Scottish government said that they are "deeply concerned," and have "no plans" to provide UNRWA with further funding.
"We note the statement by the UNRWA Commissioner General, of the immediate action already taken by UNRWA to dismiss these employees and to launch a full investigation. Also the assurance by UNRWA that any UNRWA employee who was involved in acts of terror will be held accountable, including through criminal prosecution.
"We have no plans to provide further support to UNRWA at this stage," they added.
Germany also announced that it would suspend funding to UNRWA at this stage.
The German Foreign Office wrote on X, "We are deeply concerned about the serious allegations raised against 12 UNRWA employees. We welcome that Lazzarini has already dismissed them and has announced an investigation. We expect it to be thorough and complete."
"We expect Lazzarini to make it clear within UNRWA's workforce that all forms of hatred and violence are totally unacceptable and will not be tolerated. UNRWA‘s important role is to provide indispensable, life-saving assistance to Palestinians."
The three European countries join a growing list of countries which have suspended funding to UNRWA following the October 7 massacre. The first such country was Switzerland, which last month voted to suspend funding to the UN organization. On Friday, the US voted to pause funding, and it was followed closely by Canada, Australia, the UK, and Finland.