The Israeli parliament has approved a controversial bill to ban the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA), considered a lifeline for Gaza, from operating on Israeli territory.
The legislation, which won’t take effect immediately, risks collapsing the already fragile aid distribution process at a moment when the humanitarian crisis in Gaza is worsening, and Israel is under increased pressure to allow in aid supplies.
UNRWA is the leading agency to run humanitarian aid in Gaza, which has been devastated by more than a year of Israel’s war. Hundreds of UN workers have been killed in Israeli strikes, making it the deadliest conflict for UN workers.
The vote passed 92-10 and followed a fiery debate between supporters of the law and its opponents, primarily members of Arab parliamentary parties.
A second bill severing diplomatic ties with UNRWA was also being voted on later Monday.
UNRWA decried the move as “outrageous”.
“It’s outrageous that a member state of the United Nations is working to dismantle a UN agency which also happens to be the largest responder in the humanitarian operation in Gaza,” Juliette Touma, spokeswoman for UNRWA, told AFP news agency.
“If it’s implemented it’s a disaster including due to the impact this is likely to have on the humanitarian operation in Gaza and in several parts of the [occupied] West Bank,” she said.
The UN agency has provided essential aid and assistance across Palestinian territories including the West Bank and occupied East Jerusalem, as well as to Palestinian refugees in Jordan, Lebanon and Syria for more than seven decades.
It has for years been subject to harsh Israeli criticism, which escalated since the start of Israel’s ongoing deadly assault on the besieged Gaza Strip.
‘Grave concern’
Al Jazeera’s Nour Odeh, reporting from Amman in Jordan, said this would “deprive about three million Palestinians in the occupied West Bank and Gaza from any service provided by UNRWA”.
“UNRWA provides education, health services and vocational training for Palestinian refugees. It’s a gigantic operation in the Palestinian territory and employs 13,000 people just in Gaza,” Odeh said.
Israel has alleged that some of UNRWA’s thousands of staff members participated in the October 7, 2023, Hamas’ attacks. It also has said hundreds of its staff have ties to the group and that it has found Hamas assets near or under UNRWA facilities. The agency denies it knowingly aids armed groups and says it acts quickly to purge any suspected fighters from its ranks.
The bills, which do not include provisions for alternative organisations to oversee its work, have been strongly criticized by international aid groups and a handful of Israel’s Western allies.
EU’s foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said the ban “would de facto render UNRWA’s vital operations in Gaza impossible and seriously hamper its provision of services in the West Bank”.
In a post on X, he said the legislation stands “in stark contradiction to international law and the fundamental principle of humanity”.
Before the legislation was passed, foreign ministers from France, Germany, Britain, Japan and South Korea, Canada and Australia issued a statement expressing “grave concern”.
“It is crucial that UNRWA and other UN organisations and agencies be fully able to deliver humanitarian aid and their assistance to those who need it most, fulfilling their mandates effectively,” the statement said.
The post Israeli parliament approves bill to ban UNRWA appeared first on Al Jazeera.