Israel wants to close the UN agency for Palestinian refugees. What would that mean?

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates – Israel’s parliament is considering cutting ties with the United Nations agency for Palestine refugees, a move that could paralyze the distribution of humanitarian aid in the Gaza Strip. It is the culmination of a long-running campaign against the agency, which Israel says has been infiltrated by Hamas. But supporters say Israel’s real goal is to sideline the Palestinian refugee issue.

The agency, known as UNRWA, is the main supplier and distributor of aid in Gaza and provides education, health care and other essential services to millions of Palestinian refugees throughout the region, including the Israeli-occupied West Bank.

“If it passes and is implemented, it will be a disaster,” said Juliette Touma, the agency’s communications director. “UNRWA is the largest humanitarian organization in Gaza… Who can do its work?”

Israel accuses the agency of turning a blind eye to workers it considers to be Hamas, diverting aid and using UNRWA facilities for military purposes. Israel says a dozen of its 13,000 employees in Gaza took part in the October 7, 2023 attack on southern Israel. The agency denies knowingly helping armed groups and says it is acting quickly to clear its staff of all suspected militants.

The bills would largely close UNRWA in the Palestinian territories

Both bills, which enjoy broad support in Israel, would sever Israeli ties with UNRWA and invalidate legal immunities long held by UNRWA staff in Israel. They would effectively ban the agency from operating in Israel and the Palestinian territories, since Israel controls access to both Gaza and the West Bank. This could force the agency to move its headquarters from Israeli-annexed east Jerusalem.

If passed, the bills would take effect 60 to 90 days after Israel’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs notifies the United Nations, according to a spokesman for parliamentarian Dan Illouz, one of the co-sponsors.

UNRWA Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini warned earlier this month that humanitarian operations in Gaza “could fall apart” if the legislation is passed, disrupting the provision of food, shelter and health care as winter approaches.

Gaza’s population of about 2.3 million is almost entirely dependent on aid for survival. About 90% of the population was displaced. Hundreds of thousands of people live in tent camps and schools converted into shelters, most of them run by UNRWA. Experts say hunger is widespread. More than 43,000 Palestinians have been killed in Israel’s campaign in retaliation for the October 7 attack, according to Gaza’s Ministry of Health, which does not distinguish between civilians and fighters.

Israel is reportedly considering taking over the aid distribution itself or subcontracting it, but has not yet presented a concrete plan. Any such effort would likely require large numbers of troops and other resources at a time when Israel is fighting a two-front war in Gaza and Lebanon.

Other U.N. agencies and aid groups say there is no replacement for UNRWA, which also runs 96 schools with about 47,000 students, three vocational training centers and 43 health centers in the Israeli-occupied West Bank.

A mission that has been going on for several decades, rooted in the bitter history of conflict

The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East was established to help the estimated 700,000 Palestinians who fled or were expelled from what is now Israel during the 1948 war surrounding Israel’s founding,

UNRWA supporters say Israel hopes to erase the Palestinian refugee issue by abolishing the agency. Israel argues that refugees should be permanently resettled in other countries, and Israeli opponents of the agency have suggested that ending UNRWA’s services would force them to do so.

Palestinians say refugees and their descendants, who now number almost 6 million, should be able to exercise their right under international law to return home. Israel refuses, claiming that the result will be a Palestinian majority within its borders.

This issue was one of the most serious in the peace process that stopped in 2009.

UNRWA runs schools, health clinics, infrastructure projects and relief programs in refugee camps that have expanded into urban neighborhoods in Gaza, the West Bank, Lebanon, Syria and Jordan.

The long-running dispute over UNRWA’s neutrality

Israel claims, without providing evidence, that hundreds of Palestinian fighters work for UNRWA and that more than a dozen employees took part in the Hamas attack on October 7, 2023.

UNRWA immediately dismissed employees accused of involvement in the October 7 attack, in which Hamas-led militants killed approximately 1,200 people and abducted approximately 250.

An independent investigation earlier this year found that UNRWA has “robust” mechanisms to ensure its neutrality, but pointed to gaps in implementation, including staff publicly expressing political views and textbooks containing “problematic content” in UNRWA-run schools.

UNRWA says it thoroughly investigates all allegations of abuse and holds staff accountable, and shares lists of all its employees with Israel and host countries. He says Israel has largely ignored his requests to provide evidence of its claims against the workers.

Israel has repeatedly attacked UN schools converted into shelters, claiming that Hamas militants operate there. He also says he discovered tunnels running near or under UNRWA facilities.

UNRWA has long been the largest single employer in Gaza, where the population has been impoverished by years of Israeli and Egyptian blockade. Hamas has ruled the territory since 2007 and conducts civilian political operations alongside its armed wing.

The militant wings of Hamas and other groups are highly secretive, and their members are virtually unknown outside intelligence agencies. This complicates civilian organizations’ efforts to vet workers.

Fatah Sharif, a UNRWA teacher in southern Lebanon, was killed along with his family in an Israeli airstrike last month. It later emerged that he was a senior Hamas commander, which he kept secret.

Lazzarini, the head of UNRWA, said Sharif was suspended without pay in March after the agency learned he belonged to the Hamas political party and an investigation was launched. He said it was only after his death that he knew Sharif was a militant commander.

UNRWA has strong international support

Several Western countries suspended funding for UNRWA following allegations related to the October 7 attack. It has since been restored by everyone except the United States, which was its largest donor.

The Biden administration recently warned Israel that if it did not allow more aid to Gaza, it could lose some of the key U.S. military aid it has relied on throughout the war.

The letter, sent by Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin to their Israeli counterparts, said they shared Israeli concerns about the “serious allegations” of UNRWA employees involved in the October 7 attack and “Hamas’ misuse of UNRWA facilities.”

However, it said that implementing restrictions under the laws would “destroy humanitarian assistance in Gaza at this critical time… which could have consequences under relevant U.S. law and policy.”

A joint statement last week by Canada, Australia, France, Germany, Japan, South Korea and the United Kingdom expressed “serious concern” about the regulations. It said the agency was providing “vital and life-saving humanitarian assistance” that, without it, would be “seriously hampered, if not impossible.”

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Frankel and Lidman reported from Jerusalem.