1. With this contribution, which depends on approval of the Catalan Government’s budget for 2024, the executive has reiterated its commitment to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA)
  2. The Minister called for a ceasefire in Gaza, an impartial investigation into Israel’s actions and reactivation of humanitarian aid

The Catalan Minister for Foreign Action and European Union, Meritxell Serret i Aleu, has reiterated the Catalan Government’s commitment to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) by announcing a new contribution to the Agency once Catalonia’s 2024 budget becomes available. “This year, the total contribution to United Nations bodies providing aid to Palestine will total 1.6 million euros, a 15% increase over last year,” she said, after meeting the UNRWA’s executive director in Spain, Raquel Martí.

This is the third meeting between the Catalan Government and UNRWA since the recent escalation in the conflict in the Gaza Strip began. Serret previously announced a contribution of more than one million euros from the Catalan Government to the agency at the Emergency Humanitarian Aid Committee, with UNRWA representation, on 25 October, with the aim of tackling the humanitarian emergency in Gaza and the West Bank. Now, if the Generalitat budget for 2024 is approved, the Catalan Government will be able to provide a total of 1.6 million euros to the UN bodies providing aid to Palestine, most of which will go to UNRWA, “the only agency with operational capacity on the ground,” Serret pointed out.

The Minister for Foreign Action also conveyed to Raquel Martí the Catalan Government’s “firm position” in calling for a ceasefire to put an end to the violence. “The Hamas attack was totally unjustifiable and the situation of the hostages is untenable, but the right to self-defence does not justify the human rights violations taking place and this grave action by Israel,” she stressed.

In this respect, the Government has joined other voices in the European Union calling for an impartial international investigation.

“We reiterate our full support for the multilateral system and two-state solution, based on the United Nations plan and through diplomacy, for which there is a consensus,” added Serret, who ended by calling for the “maximum” reactivation of humanitarian aid for the population of Gaza.