Israeli laws blocking UNRWA – devastating humanitarian impact for Palestinians?

This article is published in association with United Nations.

On Monday, Israel’s parliament, the Knesset, voted in favour of legislation targeting the UN agency for Palestine refugees, UNRWA, which could effectively bring its operations in the occupied Palestinian territories to a halt. Here are five things to know about the bills and the potential consequences if they go into effect.

What do the laws say?

The bills, approved overwhelmingly by Israeli parliamentarians (92 in favour, 10 against) on Monday, would prohibit the country’s authorities from having any contact with UNRWA and bar the agency from operating within Israel itself.

The passage of aid into Gaza and the West Bank requires close coordination between UNRWA and the Israeli authorities. If the legislation is implemented, Israel will no longer issue the agency’s staff with work or entry permits, and coordination with the Israeli military, essential for the safe passage of aid, will no longer be possible.

Why have these bills been passed?

Israeli politicians have long criticised UNRWA, with some claiming that members of the agency collude with Hamas. Those claims, which are denied by the agency, have grown louder since the 7 October Hamas-led attacks on Israel, in which over 1,130 people were killed.

In recent months, several senior Israeli government officials have denounced UNRWA, with a former ambassador describing  the agency as “a Palestinian organization fully committed to the Jewish State’s destruction”. The day before the vote, one of the politicians behind the bills was reported saying that UNRWA “is educating kids to hate Israel and spreading antisemitism”.

However, an independent UN review in April confirmed UNRWA’s long standing commitment to uphold the humanitarian principle of neutrality and concluded that the Agency has a more developed approach to neutrality than similar UN entities or non-governmental organizations (NGOs).

At a briefing to the Security Council that month, the Commissioner-General of UNRWA, Philippe Lazzarini, explained that the agency is the “backbone” of the entire aid operation in Gaza in the face of an “insidious campaign” by Israeli authorities to push it out of Occupied Palestinian Territory.

© UNRWA

UNRWA staff were central to the recent polio vaccination drive in Gaza.

What is UNRWA’s role in the occupied Palestinian territories?

UNRWA was established shortly after the creation of the United Nations itself by General Assembly resolution 302 (IV) in the wake of the 1948 Arab-Israeli war to provide “direct relief and works programmes” for registered Palestinian refugees, defined as “persons whose normal place of residence was Palestine during the period 1 June 1946 to 15 May 1948 and who lost both home and means of livelihood as a result of the 1948 war”.

For decades, the agency has provided essential humanitarian services to Palestine refugees in areas controlled by Israel, notably in Occupied Palestinian Territory, including the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. These include health facilities, schools and vocational training centres.

How has the UN reacted to the adoption of the legislation?

The reaction from the UN system to the bills has been swift and unequivocal. As the news broke on Monday, several of the most senior UN officials, up to and including Secretary-General António Guterres, condemned the decision.

Mr. Guterres stressed the central role that UNRWA plays in the delivery of aid and said that the effective ban would have “devastating consequences”. The acting head of the UN aid coordination office, Joyce Msuya, called the decision “dangerous and outrageous” whilst UNRWA’s Mr. Lazzarini said that the bills will “increase the suffering of the Palestinians and are nothing less than collective punishment”.

The condemnation continued on Tuesday, with UN human rights office OHCHR spokesperson Jeremy Laurence declaring that aid deliveries will “grind to a halt” without UNRWA, and World Health Organization (WHO) chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus calling the development “intolerable”. UNICEF chief Catherine Russell also reminded that UNRWA is crucial in delivering lifesaving aid to Palestinian children and families, emphasising that “this decision is dangerous; the lives and futures of Palestinian children are at stake,” while James Elder, a UNICEF staffer in the region, denounced the decision, saying “a new way has been found to kill children.”

What happens next?

Following the announcement, UN humanitarian affairs coordination office OCHA spokesperson Jens Laerke insisted that the UN is trying to “not have an implementation” of the Knesset decision, citing the outpouring of protest not only from the UN, but also from “prominent government officials… and Heads of State”.

© UNRWA

Many families are sheltering in UNRWA school buildings.

Mr. Guterres informed the President of the General Assembly that he had written a letter to the Prime Minister of Israel, Benjamin Netanyahu, calling on his government to continue to allow UNRWA to operate and to respect Israel’s obligations under international law.

On Wednesday, UN Security Council members collectively released a statement strongly warning against any attempts to dismantle or diminish UNRWA’s operations and mandate that expressed their grave concern over the adoption of the legislation and noted their appreciation for the work of the agency’s staff members.

If the passage of the bills continues unimpeded, they will come into effect within 90 days of the adoption.

UN Photo essay: What UNRWA built

UN Photo/John Isaac

Displaced people returning to their homes in the Israeli-held town of Abaseeyeh, which was destroyed during the Israeli invasion of southern Lebanon in 1978. (file)

UNWRA was established by the General Assembly on 8 December 1949 to carry out direct relief and works programmes for Palestine refugees following the 1948 war. The agency began operations on 1 May 1950.

The agency’s services encompass education, health care, relief and social services, camp infrastructure and improvement, microfinance and emergency assistance, including in times of armed conflict.

When the UN agency began operations, it was responding to the needs of about 750,000 Palestine refugees. Today, some 5.9 million Palestine refugees in the occupied Palestinian territory, Jordan, Lebanon and Syria are eligible for UNRWA services.

This curated collection documents the critical work the agency has been doing in the region for the last 74 years.

Read our accompanying Stories from the UN Archive feature here.

View the full essay here.