Israeli envoy urges other aid groups to replace UNRWA in Gaza

Israel is actively encouraging UN agencies and other aid groups to take over the work of UNRWA in Gaza, Israel’s ambassador says, after banning the agency on Israeli territory in January.

“We, the State of Israel, are working to find substitute to the act, to the work of UNRWA inside Gaza,” Daniel Meron, Israel’s ambassador to the UN in Geneva, tells reporters.

He declines to give specifics but said Israel is “encouraging the UN agencies and NGOs to take over each one in its own field that they specialize in.”

Israel came under global criticism for banning the work of the agency, the most well established in Gaza. Jerusalem has accused UNRWA of cooperating with Hamas, pointing to staffers who participated in the October 7 attack, weapons stored in UNRWA schools, and hostages saying they were held in UNRWA facilities.