Japan has announced that it, in turn, is suspending funding to the UN Palestine Refugee Agency (UNRWA) over Israel’s accusations that some of its staff were involved in an attack by Hamas on October 7, AFP and Agerpres reported.

UNRWA fired several of its staff and promised a thorough investigation, but despite this, Israel announced its decision to bar them from continuing to work in Gaza after the war.

Japan has become the ninth country to freeze funding to the UN agency, following others including the US and Germany.

On Sunday evening, Tokyo said it was “deeply concerned about the alleged involvement of UNRWA personnel in the terrorist attack on Israel on October 7 last year.”

“Japan has decided to temporarily suspend any further funding to UNRWA while UNRWA investigates this matter and considers measures to respond to the allegations,” Japan’s foreign ministry said in a statement.

Japan will continue to “simultaneously make diplomatic efforts to improve the situation in the Gaza Strip and to calm the situation as soon as possible while providing support to other international organizations,” the statement added.