Israel wants to close the UN agency for Palestinian refugees. What would that mean?

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — Israel’s parliament is considering cutting ties with the U.N. agency for Palestinian refugees, a move that could cripple the distribution of humanitarian aid in the Gaza Strip. It is the culmination of a long-running campaign against the agency, which Israel claims has been infiltrated by Hamas. But supporters say Israel’s real goal is to put aside the issue of Palestinian refugees.

The agency, known as UNRWA, is the main provider and distributor of aid in Gaza, providing education, health care and other basic services to millions of Palestinian refugees across the region, including in the Israeli-occupied West Bank.

“If it succeeds and if it is implemented, it will be a disaster,” said Juliette Touma, the agency’s communications director. “UNRWA is the largest humanitarian organization in Gaza… Who can do its job?”

Israel accuses the organization of turning a blind eye to operatives it claims belong to Hamas, diverting aid and using UNRWA facilities for military purposes. Israel says about a dozen of its 13,000 employees in Gaza took part in the Oct. 7, 2023, attack on southern Israel. The agency denies that it knowingly supports armed groups and says it is acting quickly to clear suspected militants among its staff.

The bills would largely close UNRWA in the Palestinian territories

The two bills, which enjoy broad support in Israel, would sever Israeli ties with UNRWA and eliminate legal immunities long held by UNRWA staff in Israel. They would effectively prevent the agency from operating in Israel and the Palestinian territories, because Israel controls access to both Gaza and the West Bank. It could force the agency to move its headquarters from Israeli-annexed East Jerusalem.

If passed, the bills would come into effect 60 to 90 days after Israel’s Foreign Ministry notifies the UN, said spokesman for lawmaker Dan Illouz, one of the co-sponsors.

UNRWA Commissioner General Philippe Lazzarini warned earlier this month that humanitarian operations in Gaza “could fall apart” if the legislation is passed, disrupting the supply of food, shelter and health care as winter arrives.

The approximately 2.3 million residents of Gaza are almost entirely dependent on aid to survive. About 90% of the population has been displaced. Hundreds of thousands live in tent camps and shelter-turned schools, most of which are run by UNRWA. Experts say hunger is rampant. Israel’s campaign in Gaza in retaliation for the October 7 attack has killed more than 43,000 Palestinians, according to the Gaza Health Ministry, with the count not distinguishing between civilians and militants.

Israel is reportedly considering taking over aid distribution itself or outsourcing it, but has not yet presented a concrete plan. Such an effort would likely require large numbers of troops and other resources at a time when Israel is at war on two fronts: Gaza and Lebanon.

Other U.N. agencies and aid groups say there is no replacement for UNRWA, which also runs 96 schools with about 47,000 students, three vocational training centers and 43 health centers in the Israeli-occupied West Bank.

A decades-old mission, rooted in the bitter history of the conflict

The UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees in the Near East was established to assist the estimated 700,000 Palestinians who fled or were expelled from what is now Israel during the 1948 war surrounding Israel’s creation.

Supporters of UNRWA say Israel hopes to erase the Palestinian refugee problem by dismantling the agency. Israel says the refugees should be permanently resettled in other countries, and Israeli opponents of the agency have suggested that ending UNRWA services would force them to do so.

Palestinians say refugees and their descendants, who now number nearly six million, should be able to exercise their right to return home under international law. Israel refuses, saying the result would be a Palestinian majority within its borders.

The issue was one of the thorniest in the peace process, which came to a standstill in 2009.

UNRWA operates schools, health clinics, infrastructure projects and aid programs in refugee camps that have grown into urban neighborhoods in Gaza, the West Bank, Lebanon, Syria and Jordan.

A long-running dispute over UNRWA’s neutrality

Israel says hundreds of Palestinian militants work for UNRWA, without providing evidence, and that more than a dozen operatives took part in Hamas’ attack on October 7, 2023.

UNRWA immediately fired employees accused of taking part in the October 7 attack, in which Hamas-led militants killed about 1,200 people and kidnapped about 250.

An independent review earlier this year found that UNRWA has “robust” mechanisms to ensure its neutrality, but pointed to implementation gaps, including staff publicly expressing political views and textbooks with “problematic content” on UNRWA-run schools.

UNRWA says it thoroughly investigates all allegations of misconduct and holds staff accountable, and provides lists of all its staff to Israel and host countries. It says Israel has largely ignored its requests to provide evidence for its claims against staffers.

Israel has repeatedly attacked UN schools converted into bomb shelters, claiming Hamas fighters operate there. It also says it has uncovered tunnels running near or under UNRWA facilities.

UNRWA has long been the largest employer in Gaza, where the population has been impoverished by years of Israeli and Egyptian blockades. Hamas has ruled the area since 2007 and carries out civilian political operations in addition to its armed wing.

The militant wings of Hamas and other groups are highly secretive and their members are virtually unknown outside the intelligence services. That complicates efforts by civil organizations to investigate employees.

Fatah Sharif, an UNRWA teacher in southern Lebanon, was killed along with his family in an Israeli airstrike last month. It then turned out that he was a senior Hamas commander, something he had kept secret.

Lazzarini, the head of UNRWA, said Sharif was suspended without pay in March after the organization learned he belonged to the Hamas political party and launched an investigation. He said he did not know Sharif was a militant commander until after his death.

UNRWA has strong international support

Several Western countries have suspended funding for UNRWA following allegations related to the October 7 attack. All countries except the United States, which was the largest donor, have since restored it.

The Biden administration recently warned Israel that if it does not allow more aid into Gaza, it could miss out on some of the crucial US military aid it has relied on throughout the war.

The letter sent by Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin to their Israeli counterparts said they shared Israeli concerns about “the serious allegations” of UNRWA employees taking part in the October 7 attack and about ‘Hamas Abusing UNRWA Facilities’.

But it said implementing the law’s restrictions would “devastate the humanitarian response in Gaza at this critical time … which could impact relevant U.S. law and policy.”

A joint statement from Canada, Australia, France, Germany, Japan, South Korea and Britain last week expressed “serious concerns” about the legislation. It says the agency provides “essential and life-saving humanitarian assistance,” the delivery of which without aid would be “severely hampered, if not impossible.”

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Frankel and Lidman reported from Jerusalem.