Philippe Lazzarini

Japan is preparing to resume funding to the U.N.'s crisis-hit Palestinian refugee agency (UNRWA), which coordinates nearly all aid to Gaza, the government said.

Once the sixth-largest contributor to the agency, Japan joined more than a dozen countries in pausing funding after Israel claimed that 12 of UNRWA's 13,000 Gaza employees were involved in the deadly Oct. 7 Hamas attack.

United Nations chief Antonio Guterres on Monday defended the U.N. agency for Palestinian refugees as a "lifeline of hope and dignity" and called for a surge of aid into Gaza.

During a visit to Jordan's Wihdat refugee camp in the capital Amman, Guterres said it would be "cruel and incomprehensible" to halt UNRWA's vital services to Palestinian refugees across the region.

The United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees said on Sunday that Israel had definitively barred it from making aid deliveries in northern Gaza, where the threat of famine is highest.

U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres is expected to visit Egypt's border with Gaza on Saturday, after Israel said it would send in troops to fight Hamas in the nearby city of Rafah, even without U.S. support.

A Spanish charity boat taking food to Gaza left Cyprus on Tuesday in hopes of opening a maritime corridor to carry sorely needed aid to the war-ravaged Palestinian territory.

European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell has called upon Israel's allies, particularly the United States, to cease arms supplies amidst escalating violence in Gaza. Borrell's bold stance comes in the wake of mounting casualties and humanitarian concerns stemming from Israeli military actions, as reported by Al Jazeera.

Major Israeli military action on Rafah, in Gaza's far south, would heap further devastation on civilians, the head of the U.N. agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) warned Friday.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu this week said he had ordered troops to prepare to go into the city as it hunts down those behind Hamas's unprecedented Oct. 7 attack on southern Israel.

Ankara has expressed deep concern over the decision of key donor countries to suspend funding to the U.N. agency for Palestinian refugees following Israel's allegations that staff members took part in Hamas' Oct. 7 attack.

Several key donor countries have said they will halt funding to the U.N. agency for Palestinian refugees following Israel's allegations that staff members took part in Hamas's Oct. 7 attack.

The UNRWA has fired several people and promised a thorough investigation into the claims, which were not specified, while Israel has vowed to stop the agency's work in Gaza after the war.

The U.N. chief called on donor states to guarantee the flow of aid to Gaza after several halted funding to the agency for Palestinians over claims some of its staff participated in the Oct. 7 attacks.

While the row over the UNRWA aid agency for Palestinian refugees deepened, heavy fighting in the besieged Gaza Strip sent more people fleeing south towards the Egyptian border.