The Knesset, Israel’s parliament, has approved a bill to outlaw the United Nations’ Palestinian refugee agency (Unrwa) from functioning in Israel and occupied East Jerusalem within three months.
Any contact with Israeli officials will also be prohibited, which will greatly hinder the work of Unrwa in Gaza and the Israeli-occupied territories of the West Bank.
Unrwa has to rely on the goodwill of the Israeli military that oversees all access points to Gaza in order to deliver assistance into the ravaged strip. It is the main UN organisation that operates in the field there.
The local staff of Unrwa will not be protected by legal immunity within Israel and the agency’s headquarters in East Jerusalem will be shut down.
UN Secretary General António Guterres stated that the laws’ implementation would be “negative for the Israeli-Palestinian peace process and for peace and security in the whole Middle East”, Unrwa chief Philippe Lazzarini said it will “only exacerbate the Palestinian people’s suffering”.
The US, the UK and Germany among others have raised serious concern on the move.
UK Foreign Secretary David Lammy described it as “totally wrong”, and Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer stated that the laws threaten to render Unrwa’s “crucial work for Palestinians unfeasible, which would undermine the entire humanitarian intervention in Gaza”.
The US State Department stated that Unrwa had a “critical” function in delivering humanitarian assistance in the Gaza Strip.
Over two million people of the enclave rely on assistance and services from the agency, and only a few hundred thousand are employed.
Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that “Unrwa workers involved in terrorist activities against Israel must be held accountable”, but also said that “sustained humanitarian aid must remain available in Gaza”.
Speaking on X, he said: “We are willing to consult with our counterparts in other countries to make sure that Israel remains ready, willing and able to help deliver humanitarian supplies to civilians in Gaza without compromising the security of the state of Israel.”
Israel has been critical of Unrwa for a decade but has recently stepped up its criticism.
Israel accuses Unrwa staff of the support to Hamas in Gaza, and stated that 19 employees of the organization participated in the Hamas aggression of 7 October 2023.
The UN looked into the matter and dismissed nine of the employees named by Israel, but it said it could not substantiate other claims by Israel.
Unrwa maintains that interactions with Hamas are for the purpose of facilitating the work of the agency.
The two bills were passed by a resounding majority in the Israeli parliament, the Knesset on Monday evening.
Introducing the legislation, Yuli Edelstein, the chairman of the Knesset’s foreign affairs and security committee, said that Unrwa acts as a “cover for terrorist actions”.
He said in the parliament, ‘There is a very close relationship between the terrorist organisation (Hamas) and Unrwa, and Israel cannot endure it.’
The UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East – or Unrwa – has been delivering aid, healthcare, education and other services to millions of Palestinians in Gaza since the 1950s.
Since the war erupted last year, the agency has become an important component of the attempts to deliver humanitarian assistance to the civilian population, most of whom rely on aid to live.
Unrwa Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini called the ban “unprecedented” and stated that it “is against the UN Charter and violates the State of Israel’s legal duty”.
He said people in Gaza had already endured “sheer hell”, adding: “It will deny more than 650000 girls and boys there their right to education and jeopardise an entire generation of children.”
The UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East – or Unrwa – has for decades offered services and assistance such as healthcare and schooling to millions of Palestinians in Gaza.
After the war started last year, the agency has been on the front line in the fight to deliver humanitarian assistance to the civilians who are almost entirely in need of the assistance.
The ban was described by Unrwa Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini as “unprecedented” and as “contrary to the UN Charter and the State of Israel’s legal obligations”.
He said people in Gaza had already endured “sheer hell”, adding: “It will deny more than 650,000 girls and boys there their right to education and jeopardise an entire generation of children.”
Currently, about 2,5 million Palestinians live in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and about 1,5 million in the Gaza Strip and are registered with Unrwa.
In the northern Gaza Strip, where the Israeli army is fighting against Hamas militants, several hundred thousand residents are in a steadily deteriorating situation.
UN human rights chief Volker Türk said on Friday that “the Israeli military is subjecting an entire population to bombing, siege and risk of starvation”.
Most Palestinians are convinced that the Israeli military is now carrying out a ‘surrender or starve’ scenario in the northern Gaza Strip where all of the estimated 400,000 civilians are to be forcibly relocated to the south of the strip and then the remaining Hamas fighters are to be blockaded.
The Israeli military has dismissed the existence of such a plan, and asserts it is doing all it can to evacuate civilians from danger zones.
Israel began a campaign to eliminate Hamas in retaliation for the 7 October attack on Israel in which approximately 1,200 people died and 251 others were kidnapped.
Over 42,710 people have died in Gaza since then, Gaza’s Hamas-run health ministry said.