Banning UNRWA Will Sabotage Cease-fire, Warns Agency Head

I also warned this morning that in less than two weeks, the Knesset legislation to end UNRWA’s operation in the occupied Palestinian territory will enter into force. Full implementation would be catastrophic in Gaza. It would massively weaken the international humanitarian response. And this will immeasurably worsen an already dire, catastrophic living condition. UNRWA’s personnel and services are also tightly woven into the social fabric of Gaza. The disintegration of the agency would intensify the breakdown of social order, so dismantling UNRWA now outside a political process would undermine the cease-fire agreement and sabotage Gaza’s recovery and political transition in the West Bank. The Palestinian Authority has stated clearly that it does not have the financial resources or the capacity to compensate for the loss of UNRWA’s services. We have a clear choice to do: Either we can allow UNRWA to implode before, because of the Knesset legislation and the suspension of funding of key donors. Or we can allow the agency to progressively conclude its mandate within a political framework.