Report: Israel sent UN plan for taking apart Palestinian refugee agency

Israel has sent the UN a proposal for dismantling UNRWA, the agency for Palestinian refugees, the Guardian reports.

The Israeli proposal would see some 300-400 UNRWA employees transferred to another UN agency such as the World Food Program, or to a new organization created to help distribute aid to Gazans. More employees and assets could be transferred in later stages, according to the report on the proposal, which noted that it was short on clear details.

The plan reached the desk of UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Saturday after IDF chief Herzi Halevi forwarded it to UN employees last week, the British outlet reports.

Israel has long called for the UN agency to be disbanded, arguing that it perpetuates victimhood and traffics in anti-Israel education. The bid has been redoubled in the wake of allegation that several employees took part in the October 7 massacre, and that more support Hamas and other terror groups.

Israel argues that UNRWA is part of the reason aid has been so poorly distributed in Gaza, while others blame Israel’s refusal to cooperate with the organization, according to the report.

UNRWA spokesperson Tamara Alrifai tells the Guardian that UNRWA’s unparalleled size and reach would make it nearly impossible to effectively replace in the middle of a crisis.

“This is no criticism of WFP, but logically if they were to start food distribution in Gaza tomorrow, they’re going to use Unrwa trucks and bring food into Unrwa warehouses, and then distribute food in or around Unrwa shelters,” Alrifai says. “So they’re going to need at a minimum the same infrastructure that we have, including the human resources.”