The people of war-torn Gaza are already struggling with a deep humanitarian crisis, but now they fear it will become even more difficult as Israel bans the largest U.N. agency operating in the region.
“UNRWA means everything to us: it is our life, our food, our drink and our health care. When it closes, there will be no flour. If my son gets sick, where should I go? Where?” asks Yasmine el-Ashry in “Khan Younis.”
“Banning UNRWA is another war for the Palestinian people,” said registered refugee Saeed Avida.
“They want to exterminate the Palestinian people rather than provide us with humanitarian services.”
Despite international opposition, the Knesset has broad support for the new legislation, which would prevent Israeli officials from engaging with UNRWA, the United Nations relief and works agency for Palestinian refugees in the Near East.
The agency has been accused of complicity with Hamas.
Sharon Haskell of the opposition National Unity Party, a co-sponsor of the bill, claimed: “A terrorist organization has completely taken over.”
“If the United Nations is unwilling to rid this organization of terrorist and Hamas activists, then we must take steps to ensure they cannot harm our people again.”
UNRWA maintains its neutrality.
The report said that if Israel’s new law against it is implemented as planned within three months, its impact will be far-reaching, especially in the occupied Palestinian territories.
“This basically makes it impossible for us to operate in Gaza,” said Sam Ross, deputy director of UNRWA Gaza.
“We will not be able to deliver supplies, as this would have to be coordinated with Israeli officials. We will no longer be able to manage our movement safely into and out of Gaza around checkpoints, but only in and around the conflict zone.
He noted that protected status UNRWA schools, clinics and other buildings housing hundreds of thousands of displaced people will be effectively destroyed.
Israeli media platform Diplomats and security agencies have warned of the consequences of taking action against UNRWA.
Israel has been accused of violating the United Nations Charter and its obligations under international humanitarian law.
Ultimately, however, domestic politics trumped these considerations
UNRWA After the establishment of the state of Israel and the outbreak of the first Arab-Israeli war, the United Nations General Assembly was established in 1949.
It assists some 700,000 Palestinians who have fled or been forced from their homes.
Seventy years on, as the descendants of these original refugees are registered, the number of Palestinians supported by UNRWA The population of Gaza, the West Bank (including East Jerusalem), Lebanon, Jordan and Syria has grown to 6 million.
It provides them with aid, assistance, education and health services.
The institution has long been a lightning rod for criticism of Israel, such as accusations that textbooks used in its schools promote hatred of Israel.
However, this number has grown dramatically since the Hamas attack on October 7 last year.
Last week, UNRWA confirmed that a Hamas commander killed in an Israeli attack had been an employee since 2022.
Apparently, he was filmed leading the killing and kidnapping of Israelis in a bomb shelter near Kibbutz Reim.
The United Nations launched an investigation after Israel accused 12 UNRWA staff of participating in Hamas-led attacks in southern Israel; seven more cases have since come to light.
In August, UNRWA said nine of the thousands of staff it employed in Gaza may have been involved in the attacks and had been fired.
Sam Ross said: “We have taken immediate and strong direct action in response to any allegations we receive.”
Israel has long complained that UNRWA’s presence perpetuates the Palestinian refugee problem – the core issue in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
U.N. officials countered that this could only be resolved as part of a politically negotiated settlement.
But in Gaza, where most of the 2.3 million people are registered refugees, the new action against UNRWA is also seen as a troubling attack on their status.
“I tell you, the word ‘refugee’ will disappear. They don’t want the word refugee. Israel is looking for that,” Mohammed Salman of Deir al-Balah told the BBC.
