UNRWA says it is carrying on aid work despite Israeli ban on agency

Official says organization ‘continues to be the backbone of the international humanitarian response’ in Gaza

File: Trucks carrying UNRWA humanitarian aid line up to cross the Rafah border crossing between Egypt and the Gaza Strip, Sunday, Jan. 19, 2025. (AP Photo/Amr Nabil)
File: Trucks carrying UNRWA humanitarian aid line up to cross the Rafah border crossing between Egypt and the Gaza Strip, Sunday, Jan. 19, 2025. (AP Photo/Amr Nabil)

The UN’s Palestinian relief agency said Friday its humanitarian work across the West Bank and Gaza was still ongoing despite an Israeli ban that took effect a day before and what it described as hostility towards its staff.

An Israeli law adopted in October bans operations by UNRWA (United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees) on Israeli land — including East Jerusalem — and contact with Israeli authorities from January 30.

Britain, France and Germany on Friday reiterated their concern over Israel implementing the new law, which humanitarian agencies say will have a huge impact on devastated Gaza as staff and supplies transit to the Palestinian enclave via Israel. Israel says other organizations are already handling the majority of aid work in Gaza.

“We continue to provide services,” Juliette Touma, director of communications of UNRWA, told a press briefing in Geneva. “In Gaza, UNRWA continues to be the backbone of the international humanitarian response. We continue to have international personnel in Gaza, and we continue to bring in trucks of basic supplies.”

She said any disruptions to its work in Gaza would put a ceasefire deal that halted the war between Israel and Hamas at risk.

“If UNRWA is not allowed to continue to bring and distribute supplies, then the fate of this very fragile ceasefire is going to be at risk and is going to be in jeopardy,” she said.

File: A man carries a box of relief food delivered by UNRWA at Bureij camp in the Gaza Strip on December 5, 2024 (Eyad BABA / AFP)

Tens of thousands of Palestinian refugees in East Jerusalem also receive education, healthcare and other services from UNRWA.

Touma said that its Palestinian staff in the West Bank and East Jerusalem are facing difficulties, citing examples of stone-throwing and hold-ups at checkpoints and protests at its sites, blaming “Israeli extremists.”

“They face an exceptionally hostile environment as a fierce disinformation campaign against UNRWA continues,” she said. “It has been a really rough ride, it has not been easy. Our staff have not been protected.”

Israeli protesters vandalized a UN sign on Thursday outside one of its East Jerusalem compounds by spray-painting a blue Star of David on it.

Israeli right-wing activists deface a sign in front of the shuttered gate of UNRWA’s West Bank Field Office in Jerusalem on January 30, 2025 (JOHN WESSELS / AFP)

International staff have already left after their visas expired, she added. The agency has reported more than 270 of its staff killed in the 15-month Gaza war and called for investigations.

Israel has long been critical of UNRWA, saying it perpetuates the Israeli-Palestinian conflict by bestowing refugee status to the descendants of refugees — a designation not afforded to any other refugees in the world. It has also accused the agency of promoting hatred in its schools, fostering Palestinian dependence on aid over decades through its system, and allowing terrorists to infiltrate its ranks, with some taking part in the October 7 atrocities and hundreds more having ties to terror groups.

The ceasefire deal has allowed for a surge in humanitarian aid and enabled the release of Israeli hostages in Gaza in exchange for Palestinian prisoners held by Israel, many of them convicted murderers.

Before the agreement, experts had warned of imminent famine in parts of northern Gaza, a charge Israel repeatedly rejected. Supplies have since risen and the World Food Programme said that more than 32,000 tons of food had entered Gaza since the January 19 deal took effect.

Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar has said Israel was committed to facilitating humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip, saying aid should go through other international agencies and NGOs.

“Humanitarian aid doesn’t equal UNRWA and those who wish to support the humanitarian aid effort in the Gaza Strip should invest their resources in organizations alternative to UNRWA,” he said in a statement. “We will abide by the law and we will continue to facilitate humanitarian aid.”

UNRWA is now banned from operating on Israeli soil, and contact between it and Israeli officials is also forbidden.

The ban was passed by the Knesset in November with a wide majority, with the support of opposition parties, amid a series of revelations about employees of the agency who were actively involved in terror groups in the Gaza Strip, participation of some of its staff in the October 7, 2023, Hamas invasion and slaughter, and repeated use of UNRWA infrastructure for terror activities.

Israel has also provided evidence that the agency’s schools incited hatred of Israel and glorification of attacks against Israelis.

Video showing an UNRWA worker next to a white UN jeep, and abducting the body of Jonathan Samerano, who was killed by Hamas terrorists on October 7. (Screenshot)

UNRWA was established in 1949 following Israel’s 1948 War of Independence. It provides aid, health and education to millions of Palestinians in Gaza, the West Bank and neighboring Arab countries — Syria, Lebanon and Jordan.

Some 5.9 million people are registered as Palestinian refugees by UNRWA, because they are descended from Arabs displaced in the war surrounding Israel’s creation in 1948.

It is one of only two UN refugee agencies. While UNRWA caters to Palestinians, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees is responsible for all other refugees around the world.

Government spokesman David Mencer told journalists on Wednesday that “UNRWA is riddled with Hamas operatives,” adding that “if a state funds UNRWA, that state is funding terrorists.”

“UNRWA employs over 1,200 Hamas members, including terrorists who carried out the October 7 massacre,” Mencer said. “This isn’t aid, it’s direct financial support for terror.”

UN chief Antonio Guterres on Monday demanded that Israel rescind its order.

“I regret this decision and request that the government of Israel retract it,” he said, stressing that UNRWA was “irreplaceable.”

File: United Nations and Red Crescent workers prepare the aid for distribution to Palestinians at UNRWA warehouse in Deir Al-Balah, Gaza Strip, on Monday, Oct. 23, 2023. (AP Photo/Hassan Eslaiah, File)

The agency’s chief, Philippe Lazzarini, said UNRWA’s capacity to distribute aid “far exceeds that of any other entity.”

He called Israel’s actions against UNRWA a “relentless assault… harming the lives and future of Palestinians across the occupied Palestinian territory.”

Israel has provided evidence that a dozen UNRWA employees were involved in the deadly 2023 attack and insists that other agencies can pick up the slack to provide essential services, aid and reconstruction — something the UN and many donor governments dispute.

A series of investigations, including one led by former French foreign minister Catherine Colonna, found some “neutrality-related issues” at UNRWA, but claimed Israel had not provided evidence for its headline allegation.

Under US President Donald Trump, who returned to the White House earlier this month, Washington has thrown its weight behind Israel’s move, accusing UNRWA of overstating the impact of the decision.

Most Popular
read more: