HELSINKI (VINnews) — Finland has quietly extended its defense-industry cooperation agreement with Israel through 2034 and will stop funding the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees when its current contract expires later this year, Finnish officials and local media reported.

Finnish public broadcaster Yle first reported that Helsinki and Jerusalem signed a 10-year memorandum covering joint research, development and military procurement. The pact replaces earlier five-year arrangements that dated to 2013. Finland proposed the longer extension in early 2024 as the previous memorandum neared expiration. The Defense Ministry did not publicly announce the signing.

A central focus of the relationship is Israel’s David’s Sling air-defense system. Finland became the system’s first foreign customer when the government of then-Prime Minister Sanna Marin approved a purchase of more than 300 million euros in 2023, shortly before the Oct. 7 Hamas massacre and the ensuing war in Gaza. Finnish officials have said the system is expected to enter service next year.

Defense Minister Antti Häkkänen told Yle the memorandum is not a dramatic shift in policy and mainly supports existing air-defense and procurement work. Finland has similar cooperation documents with about 40 countries, he said, and Israel has long been among them. Israeli officials have said about 23 defense projects involving the Finnish military and Israeli industry are underway.

In a separate decision announced Thursday, Foreign Trade and Development Minister Ville Tavio said Finland will not renew its four-year UNRWA funding agreement after it expires in 2026. The deal, signed in 2023 under the previous government, committed Helsinki to 5 million euros a year, or 20 million euros over four years.

Tavio said overall aid to Arabs in Judea and Samaria and Gaza will not be reduced. The money will instead be routed through other organizations, including the World Food Programme. Finland was among more than a dozen countries that temporarily froze UNRWA contributions in 2024 after Israel presented evidence that agency staff took part in the Oct. 7 attacks. Helsinki later resumed payments to fulfill the existing contract.

Israel’s Foreign Ministry welcomed the UNRWA decision, saying more countries were recognizing “the conclusive evidence of UNRWA employees’ involvement in the October 7 massacre and UNRWA’s inseparable links to Hamas.”

The two moves come as Finland, a NATO member since 2023, continues large purchases from Israeli defense firms, including Spike anti-tank missiles and Gabriel anti-ship missiles, even as left-wing parties at home have pressed to curtail military ties with Israel.