Israel passes laws that could halt UNRWA’s aid delivery to Gaza
Global News
Israel's parliament has passed two laws that could prevent the U.N. agency for Palestinian refugees, a main provider of aid to Gaza, from being able to continue its work.
Israel’s parliament has passed two laws that could prevent the U.N. agency for Palestinian refugees, a main provider of aid to Gaza, from being able to continue its work.
The laws ban the agency, UNRWA, from operating and cut all ties between the agency and the Israeli government. It’s the culmination of a long-running campaign against the agency, which Israel contends has been infiltrated by Hamas. But supporters say Israel’s real aim is to sideline the issue of Palestinian refugees.
The agency is the major distributor of aid in Gaza and provides education, health and other basic services to millions of Palestinian refugees across the region, including in the Israeli-occupied West Bank.
The head of the agency, Commissioner General Philippe Lazzarini, called the move “unprecedented” on X following the vote and said the bills “will only deepen the suffering Palestinians, especially in Gaza where people have been going through more than a year of sheer hell.”
Israel accuses the agency of turning a blind eye to staff members it says belong to Hamas, divert aid and use UNRWA facilities for military purposes. Israel says around a dozen of its 13,000 employees in Gaza participated in the Oct. 7, 2023 attack on southern Israel. The agency denies it knowingly aids armed groups and says it acts quickly to purge any suspected militants among its staff.
One of the bills passed Monday evening bans all UNRWA activities and services on Israeli soil and is set to take effect in three months.
The second bill severs all ties between government employees and UNRWA and strips its staff of their legal immunities.
Together, the bills likely bar the agency from operating in Israel and the Palestinian territories, because Israel controls access to both Gaza and the West Bank. It could force the agency to relocate its headquarters from Israeli-annexed east Jerusalem.
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