UNRWA Commissioner General Philippe Lazzarini looks on during a press conference on the situation in Gaza at the United Nations offices in Geneva, on April 30, 2024. Photo / AFP
UNRWA Commissioner General Philippe Lazzarini looks on during a press conference on the situation in Gaza at the United Nations offices in Geneva, on April 30, 2024. Photo / AFP
Israel’s Parliament has banned the United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) from operating in Israel and occupied east Jerusalem, sparking international outcry as the Government said it was mulling proposed talks with Hamas on a hostage release deal.
Despite objections from the United States and warnings from the UN Security Council, Israeli lawmakers overwhelmingly passed the bill banning the United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA, from working in Israel and occupied east Jerusalem.
Lawmakers passed the bill 92-10, after years of harsh Israeli criticism of UNRWA, which has only increased since the start of the war in Gaza following Hamas’s deadly attacks of October 7 last year.
UNRWA has provided essential aid, schooling, healthcare and assistance across the Palestinian territories and to Palestinian refugees elsewhere for more than seven decades.
UNRWA chief Philippe Lazzarini condemned the decision, saying it set “a dangerous precedent”.
UNRWA Commissioner General Philippe Lazzarini looks on during a press conference on the situation in Gaza at the United Nations offices in Geneva. Photo / AFP
“This is the latest in the ongoing campaign to discredit UNRWA. These bills will only deepen the suffering of Palestinians,” he wrote on X.
Ahead of the vote, the United States said it was “deeply concerned” about the bill, reiterating the “critical” role the agency plays in distributing humanitarian aid in the Gaza Strip.
Washington warned Israel on October 15 it had 30 days to increase the amount of aid reaching the Gaza Strip or it would consider withholding some military assistance to its key ally.
Britain’s Foreign Secretary David Lammy today expressed “profound regret” Israel was “considering shutting down UNRWA’s operations”.
In January, Israel accused a dozen of UNRWA’s Gaza employees of involvement in the October 7, 2023 attack by Hamas, which sparked the deadliest war in the territory.
A series of probes found some “neutrality-related issues” at UNRWA, and determined that nine employees “may have been involved” in the October 7 attack, but found no evidence for Israel’s chief allegations.
“There is a deep connection between the terrorist organisation (Hamas) and UNRWA, and Israel cannot put up with it,” Yuli Edelstein, a lawmaker from Netanyahu’s ruling Likud Party and one of the sponsors of the bill, said in Parliament as he presented the proposal.
“There is no place for enemies in the heart of the capital of the Jewish people.”
Israel claims the whole of Jerusalem, including the annexed east, as its indivisible capital.
‘Grave concern’ over ban
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said “UNRWA workers involved in terrorist activities against Israel must be held accountable” but added that “sustained humanitarian aid must remain available in Gaza”.
“We stand ready to work with our international partners to ensure Israel continues to facilitate humanitarian aid to civilians in Gaza in a way that does not threaten Israel’s security,” he said on X.
Islamist group Hamas reacted with fury to the ban.
“We consider this part of the Zionist war and aggression against our people,” it said.
The ban, which comes into force in 90 days, would effectively prevent UNRWA from operating in Israel and also target its operations in east Jerusalem, where it currently provides some essential services such as cleaning, education and healthcare in certain neighbourhoods.
What is also feared is UNRWA employees in the West Bank could potentially face problems in terms of moving from one place to another as well as accessing east Jerusalem or Israel, because they would lose their ability to co-ordinate with the Israeli authorities to cross checkpoints.
The same applies to visas and permits that are delivered by Israeli authorities.
Smoke billows from the site of Israeli airstrikes on a neighbourhood in the southern Lebanese city of Tyre. Photo / AFP
UNRWA and other humanitarian agencies have accused Israeli authorities of restricting aid flows into Gaza, where almost all of the territory’s 2.4 million people have been displaced at least once during the war.
The agency itself has suffered heavy losses, with at least 223 of its staff killed and two-thirds of the agency’s facilities in Gaza damaged or destroyed since the war began.
The war in Gaza erupted with Hamas’s October 7, 2023 attack on Israel, which resulted in the deaths of 1206 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally of Israeli official figures.
Israel’s retaliatory offensive has killed at least 43,020 people in Gaza, a majority of them civilians, according to the Hamas-run territory’s health ministry, figures that the UN considers reliable.
Over the weekend, a statement by Foreign Ministers from several Western countries slammed the proposed legislation targeting the UN agency.
“We, the Foreign Ministers of Canada, Australia, France, Germany, Japan, Republic of Korea and the United Kingdom, express our grave concern” over the legislation, it said.
UNRWA was created in 1949 to support Palestinian refugees in the Middle East.
