How Israel’s UNRWA ban will impact Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank

Special How Israel’s UNRWA ban will impact Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank
UNRWA provides health care services to half a million Palestinian refugees, covering 70-80 percent of needs in Gaza before the latest war erupted. (AFP)
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Updated 21 November 2024
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How Israel’s UNRWA ban will impact Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank

How Israel’s UNRWA ban will impact Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank
  • Knesset has passed two bills banning the UN’s Palestinian refugee agency from operating within Israeli territory and cooperating with authorities
  • Aid organizations warn that the legislation, slated to take effect in January, will have “catastrophic” consequences for Gaza amid “apocalyptic” situation

LONDON: In just a matter of weeks, the main UN agency providing vital services to millions of Palestinian refugees will no longer be able to do so. Israel is expected to enforce new laws banning UNRWA, a move the agency says will halt its vast operations providing aid, health care and schooling in Gaza and the West Bank.

Not only will lifesaving services be taken away, but Palestinians fear that if UNRWA comes to an end, so too will a fundamental pillar of their refugee status — the right of return to their homes.

Israel claims UNRWA has been infiltrated by militants, but the agency’s chiefs deny this and they, along with humanitarian groups and many governments, warn of catastrophic consequences if UNRWA stops operating.

For Gaza, which is on the verge of famine after a 13-month onslaught from Israel that has killed nearly 44,000 people, the outcomes are unthinkable.

On Oct. 28, the Israeli parliament passed two laws by overwhelming majority that will make it impossible for UNRWA to continue its work in the Israeli-occupied Palestinian territories.

The first law barred UNRWA from operating in Israeli territory while the second prohibited Israeli authorities from engaging with the agency in any form. 

The bills, set to take effect within 90 days of their adoption, did not provide an alternative organization to UNRWA for delivering aid or essential services.

Over a series of press conferences, briefings and statements, Philippe Lazzarini, the UNRWA commissioner-general, has become increasingly exasperated as he pleads with other nations to put pressure on Israel to halt the action.




UNRWA Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini. (Supplied)

He says not only will the collapse of his agency have devastating humanitarian consequences for Palestinians, but also removing services like education will fuel radicalization and have a destabilizing effect on the Middle East.

Lazzarini argues that such a step by a UN member state against a UN agency would also significantly undermine the international rules-based order that those members signed up to.

Shortly after the Israeli parliament, or Knesset, passed the bills, he warned that the vote “sets a dangerous precedent.”

DID YOUKNOW?

2.1 million Palestinians in Gaza depend on aid from UNRWA.

600,000 Children in Gaza receive education through UNRWA.

17,000 UNRWA staff in the occupied Palestinian territories.

(Source: UNRWA)

“It opposes the UN Charter and violates the State of Israel’s obligations under international law,” he said.

Agnes Callamard, Amnesty International’s secretary-general, slammed the vote as an “unconscionable law” and “an outright attack on the rights of Palestinian refugees.”

UNRWA was established by a UN General Assembly resolution in response to the ethnic cleansing of Palestinians from their land in 1948, which led to the formation of the Israeli state. In what became known as the Nakba, meaning catastrophe, 700,000 people were driven from their homes.




Palestinian refugees queue for food distributed by the UNRWA at a camp in Gaza on November 9, 1956. (AFP)

The agency was tasked with helping refugees scattered across Gaza, the West Bank, Lebanon, Jordan and Syria until they could return home. With no “right of return” solution ever reached with Israel, UNRWA’s work has continued, providing many services in lieu of a functioning government.

Yet despite the agency’s work, it has always faced criticism from Israel. One of the main charges against UNRWA is that it perpetuates the Palestinian refugee issue by keeping alive the notion of a “right of return” passed down through generations — something Israel views as unrealistic and unimaginable.

Palestinians believe that without the agency, their status as refugees would be undermined and they fear they would be pressured into settling wherever they have ended up.

Lazzarini said on Monday that Israel’s aim in attacking UNRWA was to strip Palestinians of their refugee status. But he insisted that whether his agency existed or not, their refugee status would be protected by UN General Assembly resolutions.




A right-wing Israeli protesters demonstrate in front of the UNRWA office in Jerusalem on March 20, 2024. (AFP)

In recent years, Israel has increasingly accused the agency of employing Hamas members and other militants among its 13,000-strong Gaza workforce.

Hamas has been in power since seizing the territory from Palestinian rivals Fatah in 2007 and UNRWA has had to tread a fine line between the militant group and Israel.

It comes under pressure from both sides about the curriculum taught in its schools or whether it is showing bias toward one side or the other.

In late January, Israeli authorities accused several UNRWA employees of involvement in the Oct. 7 Hamas attack on southern Israel, which killed 1,200 people and resulted in the capture of 250 hostages.

The UN secretary-general ordered an investigation which reported in August that nine staff members may have been involved in the attacks. UNRWA fired the employees but said it had supplied full lists of the people it employs since 2011.




Israeli protesters demonstrate in front of the UNRWA office in Jerusalem on March 20, 2024. (AFP)

Many Western countries suspended their funding for UNRWA while the investigation was carried out, a major blow given the agency’s budget is almost entirely funded by donations from UN member states. All except the US have since reinstated the money.

An independent review of the agency published in April said UNRWA had a “robust” framework to deal with neutrality but that issues such as staff publicly expressing political views and textbooks with problematic content being used in some UNRWA schools persisted.

Nevertheless, the level to which UNRWA is entwined with the fabric of Palestinian society means that removing its services would leave a huge gap in how the territories function.

Of most immediate concern, the Israeli legislation would remove desperately needed aid and health care from Gaza.




Palestinian children queue for food in Deir al-Balah, Gaza Strip, on Nov. 18, 2024. (AP)

In a statement on X after the vote, Lazzarini described the laws as “nothing less than collective punishment” that will “only deepen the suffering of Palestinians, especially in Gaza where people have been going through more than a year of sheer hell.”

More than 2 million people in Gaza have endured relentless Israeli bombing and a deepening humanitarian crisis since the war started. The population is fully dependent on the aid allowed into the territory by Israel. Families suffer severe shortages of food, clean water, medical supplies and shelter. 

The bombing and military operations destroyed essential infrastructure, razed entire districts and displaced almost the entire population. Along with the tens of thousands killed, mostly women and children, more than 100,000 have been injured, according to Gaza’s health authority.




Over two-thirds of UNRWA’s premises in Gaza have been damaged or destroyed by Israeli strikes. (AFP)

An UNRWA spokesperson told Arab News that without the agency “the delivery of food, shelter, and health care to most of Gaza’s population would grind to a halt.”

A joint statement by 15 UN and humanitarian organizations on Nov. 1 warned that the legislation against UNRWA would be a “catastrophe” for the aid response in Gaza where “there is no alternative to UNRWA.”

Indeed, relief groups have repeatedly accused Israeli authorities of aid obstruction. While Israel has denied this, data analysis by aid organizations operating in Gaza found that 83 percent of food aid does not make it into the enclave.

Jens Laerke, spokesperson for UN humanitarian agency OCHA, told a UN briefing in Geneva in mid-November that aid access across Gaza has been “at a low point.” 

“Chaos suffering, despair, death, destruction, displacement is at a high point,” he said, adding that delivering assistance in northern Gaza was “near impossible.” 




A Palestinian woman holds the shrouded body of child killed in Israeli bombardment, at a health clinic in the area of Tel al-Sultan in Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip on May 26, 2024. (AFP)

The ramifications of the new laws will extend beyond Gaza, across the entire occupied Palestinian territories. 

“In the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, without UNRWA, health, education and social services to Palestine refugees would fall apart,” the UNRWA spokesperson said. 

Addressing a UN General Assembly committee last week, Lazzarini warned the risk of UNRWA’s collapse “threatens the lives and futures of individuals and communities.”  

UNRWA delivers education to more than 660,000 children across Gaza and at least 50,000 in the West Bank. If the agency's work stops, “an entire generation will be denied the right to education,” Lazzarini added: “Their future will be sacrificed, sowing the seeds for marginalization and extremism.” 




Palestinian children play at UNRWA-run school in the Qalandia refugee camp in the occupied West Bank on Nov. 14, 2024. (AFP)

The agency provides health care services to half a million Palestinian refugees, covering 70-80 percent of needs in Gaza before the war. 

Banning UNRWA would also put at risk the jobs of 17,000 employees in Gaza and the West Bank.

More than 240 UNRWA personnel have already been killed in the Gaza war and others have been detained and tortured. 

UNRWA is a “casualty” of the Gaza war and “not a party” to the Israel-Palestine conflict, Lazzarini said.

“Palestinian armed groups, including Hamas, and Israeli forces have allegedly used our premises for military purposes,” he added. 

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Away from Gaza, concern is growing that the demise of UNRWA would erode the refugee status of Palestinians, further weakening their cause. 

The non-governmental organization Medical Aid for Palestinians warned that discrediting UNRWA “undermined the international legal framework protecting their (Palestinian refugees) rights, including the right of return.” 

Rafe Jabari, a researcher on the political sociology of Arab states, told Arab News that UNRWA plays a critical role in “keeping the refugee question on track” while providing the international community with essential data and insights on the situation in Gaza.




A Palestinian girl walks past a World Health Organization (WHO) storage center destroyed in a recent Israeli bombardment in Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza Strip on Nov. 19, 2024. (AFP)

Israeli officials have “banned the entry of international journalists” into Gaza and “are now attacking the most important, neutral, and impartial organization (UNRWA),” he said.

“By eliminating this important source of information, the Israelis aim to obscure their practices and policies on the ground, undermining the credibility of other sources and, in turn, denying the outcomes of their actions.”

Despite the widespread concern over UNRWA’s future, there is no sign that Israel may be willing to halt the ban and little detail on how its work could be replaced.

“UNRWA may be defined by a single word — failure,” Israel’s UN Ambassador Danny Danon told a meeting of the General Assembly on UNRWA earlier this month. “This idea that UNRWA could not be supplemented is absurd.”




Displaced Palestinians walk amid blood-stained rubble following an Israeli strike that hit a UN-run school where people had taken refuge, in the Nusseirat refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip on Nov, 20, 2024. (AFP)

Yet, as the clock ticks toward the ban being enforced, the warnings from the UN grow even louder, with officials saying Israel will have to step in when UNRWA is no longer operating.

Speaking in Geneva on Monday, Lazzarini said while there was no functioning state or institutions for Palestinians, then the role of UNRWA was “irreplaceable.”

“There is no Plan B,” he said.
 

 


Putin offers Iran Russian help after blast at Iranian port of Bandar Abbas

Putin offers Iran Russian help after blast at Iranian port of Bandar Abbas
Updated 27 April 2025
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Putin offers Iran Russian help after blast at Iranian port of Bandar Abbas

Putin offers Iran Russian help after blast at Iranian port of Bandar Abbas

MOSCOW: President Vladimir Putin has offered Iran Russian help in dealing with the aftermath of a blast that rocked the Iranian port of Bandar Abbas and expressed his condolences over the loss of life, the state RIA news agency reported on Sunday.
Iranian state media reported that a huge blast probably caused by the explosion of chemical materials killed at least 18 people and injured more than 700 on Saturday at Bandar Abbas, Iran’s biggest port.


Lebanon says one killed in Israeli drone strike

Lebanon says one killed in Israeli drone strike
Updated 27 April 2025
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Lebanon says one killed in Israeli drone strike

Lebanon says one killed in Israeli drone strike

BEIRUT: Lebanon’s health ministry said an Israeli drone strike Sunday on a border town killed one person, the latest attack despite a November ceasefire that ended a war between Israel and Hezbollah militants.
The health ministry reported in a statement “one martyr” from “the drone strike launched by the Israeli enemy on the town of Halta,” in southern Lebanon.


Israel says intercepts missile fired by Yemen’s Houthis

Israel says intercepts missile fired by Yemen’s Houthis
Updated 27 April 2025
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Israel says intercepts missile fired by Yemen’s Houthis

Israel says intercepts missile fired by Yemen’s Houthis
  • Houthis claimed responsibility for the launch, saying it targeted an air base in southern Israel

JERUSALEM: The Israeli military said Sunday it intercepted a missile fired from Yemen, where the Houthi rebels claimed responsibility for the launch, saying it targeted an air base in southern Israel.
“The missile that was launched from Yemen was intercepted... prior to crossing into Israeli territory,” a military statement said.
Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi militants said they had launched a “hypersonic missile” at the Nevatim air base in Israel’s Negev desert.
The Houthis, part of Iran’s “axis of resistance” against Israel and the United States, portray themselves as defenders of Palestinians in the Gaza Strip amid the ongoing Israel-Hamas war.
They have regularly launched missiles and drones at Israel and at vessels plying the key Red Sea trade route, prompting waves of attacks by Israel and the United States on Houthi targets.
Since US President Donald Trump took office in January, those attacks have intensified, with almost daily strikes for the past month.
According to Israel’s army radio, the Houthis have fired more than 20 missiles at Israel since they resumed their attacks when Israel renewed its Gaza offensive on March 18 after a two-month ceasefire.


What is the International Court of Justice and why is it weighing in on humanitarian aid in Gaza?

What is the International Court of Justice and why is it weighing in on humanitarian aid in Gaza?
The ICJ delivers a non-binding ruling on the legal consequences of the Israeli occupation of the West Bank and East Jerusalem.
Updated 27 April 2025
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What is the International Court of Justice and why is it weighing in on humanitarian aid in Gaza?

What is the International Court of Justice and why is it weighing in on humanitarian aid in Gaza?
  • Israel’s retaliatory offensive has killed over 51,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry
  • The International Criminal Court was established in 2002 as the court of last resort to prosecute those responsible for the world’s most heinous atrocities

THE HAGUE: The top United Nations court on Monday will begin hearing from 40 countries on what Israel must do to provide desperately needed humanitarian assistance to Palestinians in Gaza and the occupied West Bank.
Last year, the UN General Assembly asked the International Court of Justice to weigh in on Israel’s legal obligations after the country effectively banned the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, the main provider of aid to Gaza, from operating. The United States, Israel’s closest ally, voted against the resolution.
Israel over a month ago again cut off all aid to Gaza and its over 2 million people. Israel has disputed that there is a shortage of aid in Gaza, and says it is entitled to block the aid because it says Hamas seizes it for its own use.
The Hague-based court has been asked to give an advisory opinion, a non-binding but legally definitive answer, in the latest judicial proceedings involving Israel and the 18-month war in Gaza. That is expected to take several months.
What is the International Court of Justice?
Set up in the aftermath of World War II, the ICJ is an organ of the UN and adjudicates disputes between countries. Certain UN bodies, including the General Assembly, can request advisory opinions from the court’s 15 judges.
All 193 UN member states are members of the ICJ, though not all of them automatically recognize its jurisdiction.
Last year, the court issued an unprecedented and sweeping condemnation of Israel’s rule over the occupied Palestinian territories, finding Israel’s presence unlawful and calling for it to end. The UN General Assembly sought the opinion after a Palestinian request. The ICJ said Israel had no right to sovereignty in the territories, was violating international laws against acquiring territory by force and was impeding Palestinians’ right to self-determination.
Two decades ago, the court in another advisory opinion held that Israel was violating international law by constructing a barrier between Israel and the West Bank. That opinion, also requested by the UN General Assembly, dismissed Israeli arguments that the wall was needed for security.
Israel has not participated in previous advisory opinion hearings but has submitted written statements.
What is the genocide case that Israel is facing at the ICJ?
South Africa went to the court last year to accuse Israel of genocide over its actions in the war in Gaza, which began when Hamas-led militants attacked southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, killing about 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and abducting 251.
Israel’s retaliatory offensive has killed over 51,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry, which does not say how many are civilians or combatants. The offensive has reduced much of Gaza to rubble, and most of its people remain homeless.
Israel rejects South Africa’s claim and accuses it of providing political cover for Hamas.
South Africa also asked judges to make nine urgent orders known as provisional measures. They are aimed at protecting civilians in Gaza while the court considers the legal arguments.
The court has ruled several times on that request, including ordering Israel to do all it can to prevent death, destruction and any acts of genocide in Gaza. The proceedings are ongoing and likely to take years to reach a conclusion.
How is the ICJ different from the International Criminal Court?
The International Criminal Court was established in 2002 as the court of last resort to prosecute those responsible for the world’s most heinous atrocities: war crimes, crimes against humanity, genocide and the crime of aggression.
While the ICJ deals with disputes between two or more countries, the ICC seeks to hold individuals criminally responsible.
In November, a three-judge panel issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant and Hamas’ military chief, Mohammed Deif, accusing them of crimes against humanity in connection with the war in Gaza.
The warrants said there was reason to believe Netanyahu and Gallant have used “starvation as a method of warfare” by restricting humanitarian aid and intentionally targeted civilians in Israel’s campaign against Hamas, charges Israeli officials deny.
The warrant marked the first time a sitting leader of a major Western ally has been accused of war crimes and crimes against humanity by the global court of justice and has sparked major pushback from supporters of Israel, including the US
Israel and its top ally, the United States, are not members of the court. However, Palestine is, and judges ruled in 2021 that the court had jurisdiction over crimes committed on Palestinian territory.


For nearly 60 days, Israel has blocked food from Gaza. Palestinians struggle to feed their families

For nearly 60 days, Israel has blocked food from Gaza. Palestinians struggle to feed their families
Updated 27 April 2025
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For nearly 60 days, Israel has blocked food from Gaza. Palestinians struggle to feed their families

For nearly 60 days, Israel has blocked food from Gaza. Palestinians struggle to feed their families
  • For nearly 60 days, no food, fuel, medicine or other item has entered the Gaza Strip, blocked by Israel. Markets are nearly bare

KHAN YOUNIS: For nearly 60 days, no food, fuel, medicine or other item has entered the Gaza Strip, blocked by Israel. Aid groups are running out of food to distribute. Markets are nearly bare. Palestinian families are left struggling to feed their children.
In the sprawling tent camp outside the southern city of Khan Younis, Mariam Al-Najjar and her mother-in-law emptied four cans of peas and carrots into a pot and boiled it over a wood fire. They added a little bouillon and spices.
That, with a plate of rice, was the sole meal on Friday for the 11 members of their family, including six children.
Among Palestinians, “Fridays are sacred,” a day for large family meals of meat, stuffed vegetables or other rich traditional dishes, Al-Najjar said.
“Now we eat peas and rice,” she said. “We never ate canned peas before the war. Only in this war that has destroyed our lives.”
The around 2.3 million Palestinians in Gaza are now mainly living off canned vegetables, rice, pasta and lentils. Meat, milk, cheese and fruit have disappeared. Bread and eggs are scarce. The few vegetables or other items in the market have skyrocketed in price, unaffordable for most.
“We can’t get anything that provides any protein or nutrients,” Al-Najjar said.
Beans, peas and bread dunked in tea
Israel imposed the blockade on March 2, then shattered a two-month ceasefire by resuming military operations March 18. It said both steps aim to pressure Hamas into releasing hostages. Rights groups call the blockade a “starvation tactic” endangering the entire population and a potential war crime.
Item by item, foods have disappeared, Al-Najjar said.
When meat became unavailable, she got canned sardines. Those are gone. They used to receive cartons of milk from the UN That ended weeks ago. Once a week, she used to buy tomatoes to give her children a salad. Now she can’t afford tomatoes.
Now, they are on a routine of cans of beans or peas and carrots, she said. When they can’t find that, they get lentils or pasta from a charity kitchen. If she finds bread or sugar, she gives her kids bread dunked in tea to stave off their hunger, she said.
“I’m afraid my son’s children will die of hunger,” said Mariam’s mother-in-law Sumaya Al-Najjar. The 61-year-old said she and her husband have cancer; she has stopped taking her medication because its unobtainable, and her husband is being treated in a hospital.
Mariam worries how she’ll feed her children when what’s left in Gaza runs out.
“Maybe we’ll eat sand,” she said.
Malnutrition hitting children at a key time in their development
Doctors warn that the lack of variety, protein and other nutrients in children’s diet will cause long-term damage to their health.
Dr. Ayman Abu Teir, head of the Therapeutic Feeding department at Khan Younis’ Nasser Hospital, said the number of malnutrition cases has “increased in a very substantial way.” Specialized milk for them has run out, he said. The UN said it identified 3,700 children suffering from acute malnutrition in March, up 80 percent from February.
“Children need the food pyramid for their development,” Abu Teir said: meat, eggs, fish and dairy for their growth, fruits and vegetables to build their immune systems. “These do not exist in Gaza,” he said.
He said a 1-year-old child weighing 10 kilos (22 pounds) needs about 700 calories a day.
The four cans of peas and carrots in the Al-Najjars’ Friday meal totaled about 1,000 calories, according to label information — not counting the rice they also ate – split among 11 people, including six children between the ages of 6 and 14.
Israel has previously said Gaza had enough aid after a surge in distribution during the ceasefire., and it accuses Hamas of diverting aid for its purposes. Humanitarian workers deny there is significant diversion, saying the UN strictly monitors distribution.
On a recent day in a Khan Younis street market, most stalls were empty. Those open displayed small piles of tomatoes, cucumbers, shriveled eggplants and onions. One had a few dented cans of beans and peas. At one of the few working grocery stores, the shelves were bare except for one with bags of pasta.
Tomatoes sell for 50 shekels a kilo, almost $14, compared to less than a dollar before the war.
“I dream of eating a tomato,” said Khalil Al-Faqawi, standing in front of the empty stalls.
He said he has nine people to feed. “The children ask for meat, for chicken, for a cookie. We can’t provide it,” he said. “Forget about meat. We’ve got lentils. Great. Thank you very much. What happens when the lentils run out?”
The only vegetables are those grown in Gaza. Israeli troops have destroyed the vast majority of the territory’s farmland and greenhouses or closed them off within military zones where anyone approaching risks being shot.
The remaining farms’ production has fallen for lack of water and supplies.
Mahmoud Al-Shaer said his greenhouses yield at most 150 kilos (330 pounds) of tomatoes a week compared to 600 kilos (1,300 pounds) before the war.
Even that can’t be sustained, he said. “In two weeks or a month, you won’t find any at all.”
Israel has leveled much of Gaza with its air and ground campaign. It has killed over 51,000 Palestinians, mostly women and children, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry, whose count does not distinguish between civilians and combatants. Almost the entire population has been driven from their homes. Hundreds of thousands live in tent camps.
In Khan Younis, children mobbed the Rafah Charity Kitchen, holding out metal pots. Workers ladled boiled lentils into each one.
Such kitchens are the only alternative to the market. Other food programs shut down under the blockade.
The kitchens also face closure. The World Food Program said Friday it delivered its last food stocks to the 47 kitchens it supports — the biggest in Gaza — which it said will run out of meals to serve within days.
Kitchens can provide only lentils or plain pasta and rice. Hani Abu Qasim, at the Rafah Charity Kitchen, said they have reduced portion size as well.
“These people who depend on us are threatened with starvation if this kitchen closes,” Abu Qasim said.