Israel has officially cut ties with UNRWA. What could this mean in Gaza – National
Israel has officially ended a decades-old cooperation agreement with the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine (UNRWA) covering the protection, movement and political security of the Israeli agency, the West Bank and the Gaza Strip.
Israel notified the UN in a letter on Sunday, as required by a new law passed by Israel's parliament that will ban UNRWA's operations in Israel and bar Israeli officials from cooperating with it when the law takes effect in late January.
The end of the 1967 accord, however, is imminent. UN lawyers are reading the letter, UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric told reporters on Monday, adding: “UNRWA continues to work today.”
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has for years called for UNRWA to be disbanded, accusing it of inciting people to turn against Israel.
UNRWA says the new law leaves its operations in the Israeli-occupied West Bank and Gaza at risk of collapse. Senior UN and Security Council officials describe UNRWA as the backbone of the humanitarian response in Gaza, where Israel and the Palestinian militant group Hamas have been at loggerheads for the past year.
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“There is no other way for UNRWA,” Dujarric said.
The United States opposes Israel's UNRWA law and has been studying Israel's letter to the UN to determine whether this is possible, State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said Monday.
The amount of aid flowing into Gaza has dropped to its lowest level all year, according to UN data. The world's hunger watchdog has warned of impending famine, and the UN has repeatedly accused Israel of obstructing and obstructing aid efforts, particularly in northern Gaza.
UNRWA was established in 1949 following the conflict surrounding the establishment of Israel, during which 700,000 Palestinians fled or were driven from their homes. It provides aid, health and education to the 5.9 million descendants of those refugees in Gaza, the West Bank and neighboring Arab countries.
The new Israeli law does not specifically prohibit UNRWA's operations in the West Bank and Gaza, both of which are considered by international law to be outside the territory of Israel, but under Israeli sovereignty. However, it will have a significant impact on UNRWA's operations.
UNRWA's director of communications, Juliette Touma, said the task is on UN member states to find a way to prevent Israel from implementing the law, calling it “a race against time.”
Israel has accused UNRWA staff of being involved in an attack by Hamas militants on Israel on October 7, 2023, which sparked unrest in Gaza. The UN said in August that nine UNRWA workers may have been involved in the Hamas attack and were fired. Later, the commander of Hamas in Lebanon – who was killed in September by Israel – was found to be working for UNRWA.
Israel's ambassador to the UN, Danny Danon, said in a statement on Sunday that despite “many evidences we have sent to the UN showing how Hamas entered UNRWA, the UN has done nothing to address this fact.”
Touma said that in addition to the UN investigation, UNRWA received one official case from the Israeli authorities, accusing 100 of its staff members of Palestinian armed groups. UNRWA has sought information and cooperation from Israel regarding the allegations and has yet to receive a response, she said.
-Reporting by Michelle Nichols; Additional reporting by Muhammad Al Gebaly, Nilutpal Timsina, Tom Perry, and Humeyra Pamuk; Edited by Ros Russell and Rosalba O'Brien
© 2024 The Canadian Press
