Palestine UN aid
© AFP 2018 / RAMI AL-SAYED
The UN Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) has received $118 million in emergency funds from various nations to maintain basic services for millions of Palestinian refugees to the end of 2018, Jordan Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi told a press conference on Thursday.

The 28-nation European Union, Japan, Germany, Sweden and Turkey were major contributors among those providing the $118 million to help make good the removal of $300 million earlier this month by the US government, Safadi told reporters at United Nations headquarters in New York.

The extra funding was raised at a meeting on the sidelines of the current UN General Assembly and to maintain vital services for millions of refugees, UNRWA Commissioner-General Pierre Krahenbuhl told the press conference.

The funding pledges came a day after reports that UNRWA had been forced to cut its salaries to more than 12,000 staff by 40 percent for the second month in a row.