Israeli legislation taking effect on Thursday will threaten the operations of a major United Nations agency that provides critical humanitarian aid in the Gaza Strip after more than a year of war has left the territory in ruins.
The laws ban the agency, UNRWA, from any activities in Israel, effectively cutting off its ability to deliver aid to Gaza. The agency, known formally as the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East, provides shelter, food and water to millions of Palestinians not only in the enclave, but also in the Israeli-occupied West Bank and several surrounding countries.
Israel accuses UNRWA of acting under Hamas’s influence, rendering it incapable of behaving as a neutral aid group. Israel says UNRWA employs many Hamas members, including some who joined the Hamas-led attacks on Israel.
Israel has argued that other U.N. agencies and aid groups can step up in UNRWA’s place. But aid officials say that removing the U.N. agency, the largest humanitarian organization in Gaza, will severely undermine aid efforts.
COGAT, the Israeli military unit responsible for coordinating aid deliveries to Gaza, has said that it is subordinate to Israeli law and that the government and will “implement the law as best as possible.”
Here is a look at what the ban could mean for Palestinians in Gaza and beyond.
Why are Israel and UNRWA at odds?
The relationship between Israel and UNRWA has been tense for decades.
The U.N. agency was founded in 1949 to care for Palestinians displaced during the wars surrounding the creation of the state of Israel, along with their descendants.
Riyad Mansour, the Palestinian representative to the U.N., told the Security Council this week that Israel had long worked to dismantle the agency as part of a strategy to strip displaced Palestinians of their refugee status and, thus, their right to return to their old lands, which Israel opposes.
Israel has accused the agency of playing a political role by perpetuating the refugee status of Palestinians across multiple generations.
Israel has also claimed for years that Hamas has penetrated UNRWA’s ranks and uses its schools to hide fighters. A New York Times analysis of Hamas records seized by Israel showed that at least 24 members of Hamas and Islamic Jihad, a smaller Palestinian militant group, worked at UNRWA-run schools.
Last year, Israel said that 18 UNRWA employees participated in the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas-led attack on southern Israel. The U.N. investigated Israel’s accusations and found that nine employees may have participated in the attack. At least nine employees have been fired.
After Israel accused Hamas of infiltrating the agency, the Biden administration suspended millions in annual funding to UNRWA, and Congress in March prohibited U.S. funding to the organization for a year. Many countries that paused aid to the agency later reinstated it last year.
What does the Israeli legislation say?
An overwhelming majority of Israeli lawmakers passed two laws in October.
One law banned all of UNRWA’s activities on Israeli soil. That includes East Jerusalem, which most of the world considers to be occupied land and which was annexed by Israel after the Arab-Israeli war of 1967. The law does not ban UNRWA in Gaza or the West Bank, but will limit UNRWA’s access to those territories via Israel.
The other law forbids any contact between Israeli officials and UNRWA or anyone acting on the organization’s behalf. The restrictions take effect on Thursday, 90 days after lawmakers enacted the legislation.
The legislation also requires an Israeli government agency to regularly report to the Israeli Parliament on how the law is being carried out, and underlines that Israel can still take legal actions against UNRWA employees.
Ron Katz, one of the bills’ sponsors, bluntly equated Hamas and the U.N. agency when the laws passed: “We are saying simply: Israel is breaking away from a terrorist organization, Hamas, which called itself UNRWA.”
What could it mean for Gaza?
Hundreds of truckloads of food, fuel and other supplies have arrived in Gaza each day since the cease-fire took effect this month. But the need is vast after 15 months of war, and UNRWA forms the backbone of supply chains there.
UNRWA’s chief, Philippe Lazzarini, recently told the U.N. Security Council that the ban would “massively weaken the international humanitarian response” in Gaza and “immeasurably worsen already catastrophic living conditions.” He added in a post on X last Friday that the ban “might sabotage” the cease-fire between Israel and Hamas.
The group still has several weeks’ worth of supplies stored within the territory, meaning that its aid distribution will not be immediately affected, according to Sam Rose, UNRWA’s director of operations in Gaza.
Israel may permit UNRWA to transfer thousands of truckloads already in Israel, even though that might technically violate the laws, according to three Israeli officials who spoke on the condition of anonymity in order to discuss sensitive operational matters.
Israel’s ambassador to the United Nations, Danny Danon, said it might take Israel days or weeks to enforce the laws to the letter, noting that “the curtain won’t fall all at once.”
UNRWA’s biggest challenge in Gaza will come in several weeks’ time, when its aid supplies dwindle and foreign staff members need to be rotated out of the territory. Under the ban, securing approval to bring in additional aid and obtaining visas for staff could be impossible.
For now, the only land access to Gaza is through Israel.
Israel wants other aid agencies such as UNICEF and the World Food Program to take over UNRWA’s roles, according to two Israeli officials and two Western diplomats. But the United Nations strongly objects, concerned that this could set a dangerous precedent.
UNRWA also says that its 5,000-member staff in Gaza, extensive logistical network and deep trust among local residents cannot be replaced. The group argues that only UNRWA can help Israel uphold its pledge to deliver at least 600 trucks of humanitarian relief per day, in accordance with the terms of the cease-fire deal with Hamas.
Israel, backed by the United States, is trying to force the agency to operate under the umbrella of other U.N. agencies such as UNICEF and for other aid groups to take over more responsibility, according to two Israeli officials and two Western diplomats. The United Nations strongly objects, concerned that this could set a dangerous precedent
What could it mean inside Israel?
Starting on Thursday, UNRWA officials will not be able to work legally in the state of Israel.
Last week, Israel told the agency it had six days to shut down its headquarters in East Jerusalem, which lies in territory annexed by Israel after the 1967 war.
Many staff members have already left, according to Juliette Touma, the agency’s global communications director. She described the developments as “one of the saddest days of her life.”
UNRWA will also be required to shutter several schools that educate roughly 1,000 Palestinian children and health clinics that serve thousands in East Jerusalem.
The Jerusalem municipality is ready to serve those students in schools run by the Israeli authorities, according to two officials in the municipality who insisted on anonymity in order to speak freely. But, in practice, it could take time for the UNRWA schools to shut down, one of the officials said.
UNRWA will also be forced to close its West Bank headquarters operating in Jerusalem since the 1950s. Many of the staff members have already left, according to Ms. Touma, who said it’s, “one of the saddest days of her life.”
What could it mean for the West Bank?
UNRWA will not be forced to close its facilities — which consist of mostly clinics and schools — in the Israeli-occupied West Bank. But it will face logistical difficulties bringing in aid.
And the agency’s foreign employees will no longer be able to work there because the West Bank’s borders are controlled by Israel, which is expected to block the agency’s staff members from obtaining visas.
Adam Rasgon, Aaron Boxerman and Farnaz Fassihi contributed reporting.
