By Michelle Nichols
UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) – Implementation of a ban on the U.N. Palestinian relief agency UNRWA in Israel – due to start on Thursday – will be disastrous, the UNRWA chief told the Security Council on Tuesday, as the United States accused it of being “irresponsible and dangerous.”
The law, adopted in October, bans UNRWA’s operation on Israeli land – including East Jerusalem, which Israel annexed in a move not recognized internationally – and contact with Israeli authorities from Jan. 30.
“UNRWA must cease its operations and evacuate all premises it operates in Jerusalem, including the properties located in Maalot Dafna and Kafr Aqab,” Israel’s U.N. Ambassador Danny Danon told the council.
“Israel will terminate all collaboration, communication and contact with UNRWA or anyone acting on its behalf,” he said.
UNRWA said operations in the Gaza Strip and West Bank will also suffer. It provides aid, health and education services to millions in the Palestinian territories and neighboring Arab countries of Syria, Lebanon and Jordan.
“In two days, our operations in the occupied Palestinian territory will be crippled,” UNRWA Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini told the 15-member Security Council. “Full implementation of the Knesset legislation will be disastrous.”
‘IRRESPONSIBLE’
U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and the Security Council have described UNRWA as the backbone of the humanitarian aid response in Gaza, which has been decimated by 15 months of war between Israel and Palestinian militants Hamas.
The United States, under new President Donald Trump, supports Israel’s “sovereign right” to close UNRWA’s offices in Jerusalem, acting U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Dorothy Shea told the Security Council. Under Trump predecessor Joe Biden, the United States had urged Israel to pause implementation of the law.
“UNRWA exaggerating the effects of the laws and suggesting that they will force the entire humanitarian response to halt is irresponsible and dangerous,” Shea said.
“What is needed is a nuanced discussion about how we can ensure that there is no interruption in the delivery of humanitarian aid and essential services,” she said.
“UNRWA is not and never has been the only option for providing humanitarian assistance in Gaza,” she said.
Other agencies working in Gaza and the West Bank include the children’s organization UNICEF, the World Food Programme, the World Health Organization and the U.N. Development Programme.
WHO FILLS A GAP?
But the U.N. has repeatedly said there is no alternative to UNRWA and that it would be Israel’s responsibility to replace its services. Israel has rejected U.N. claims that Israel would be responsible for filling any gap left by UNRWA.
“Since October 2023, we have delivered two-thirds of all food assistance, provided shelter to over a million displaced persons and vaccinated a quarter of a million children against polio,” Lazzarini told the Security Council.
“Since the ceasefire began, UNRWA has brought in 60% of the food entering Gaza, reaching more than half a million people. We conduct some 17,000 medical consultations every day,” he said.
Israel has long been critical of UNRWA. It says UNRWA staff took part in the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attack on Israel. The U.N. has said nine UNRWA staff may have been involved and were fired. A Hamas commander in Lebanon – killed in September by Israel – was also found to have had an UNRWA job.
The U.N. has vowed to investigate all accusations made and repreatedly asked Israel for evidence, which it says has not been provided. Lazzarini also said on Tuesday that UNRWA has been the target of a “fierce disinformation campaign” to “portray the agency as a terrorist organization.”
(Reporting by Michelle Nichols; Editing by Mark Porter)
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