Israeli occupation | Israel declares UNRWA “terrorist” and bans its operations in the country – El Salto

The Israeli parliament approved three legislative projects in the first reading on July 22, aimed at treating UNRWA – the UN organization that cares for Palestinian refugees – as a “terrorist” entity and restricting its activity on its territory.

The set of laws, which will come into force upon passing the second and third readings, justifies the exclusion of this humanitarian agency due to its alleged ties with the Islamist organization Hamas, which has ruled the Gaza Strip since 2006.

The first bill, aimed at banning UNRWA from operating on Israeli territory, was approved in the first reading by 58 votes to nine. The second, designed to remove immunity and all privileges from the UN organisation’s personnel, was approved by 63 votes in favour and nine against. The third, which describes the refugee agency as “terrorist”, came through with the support of 50 Knesset representatives compared to ten who opposed it.

“Not a day goes by when our army spokesman doesn’t publish new findings on the ground linking UNRWA to terrorism,” said Yulia Malinovsky of the far-right Israel Beytenu (Our Home is Israel) party, whose leader is Avigdor Lieberman, who ran in the Kach party, banned for xenophobic and racist positions against Arabs and Palestinians.

The vote in the Knesset came four days after the United Kingdom, one of Tel Aviv’s biggest allies, announced it was resuming funding for UNRWA.

Hamas reacted to the laws with a statement in which it accused Israel of wanting to close UNRWA “in violation of international law”, which it described as “invalid and illegal”. Hussein al-Sheikh, the secretary-general of the Palestine Liberation Organization, called on the international community to continue supporting the agency so that “it can continue its humanitarian role with the victims of the Israeli occupation.”

The vote in the Knesset comes four days after the United Kingdom, one of Tel Aviv’s biggest traditional allies, announced it was resuming funding for UNRWA after months of boycott in the wake of allegations – which were soon proven false – that 10% of the unit’s staff were linked to Hamas. With a 27 million euro contribution, London turned a blind eye to Israel’s arguments that there are links between UNRWA and the Islamist organisation. New British Foreign Secretary David Lammy highlighted the “absolutely central” role of the UN agency, which is the only one in a position to provide humanitarian aid, shelter and assistance to Palestinians, particularly those living in Gaza. Lammy was “appalled” by the idea that there could be any kind of link between the two organisations.

With this measure, the United Kingdom follows in the footsteps of Germany, the European Union, Sweden, Japan and France. All of them stopped funding when the allegations against UNRWA were made and decided to get it back when Israel’s evidence and arguments weakened. Of the countries that have cut their funding to UNRWA, only the United States continues the boycott.

Only the United States remains firm in its boycott of the refugee agency, with the United Kingdom deciding to resume funding to UNRWA, following moves by Germany, the European Union, Sweden, Japan and France.

UNRWA has more than 30,000 staff who provide humanitarian aid, education, food, shelter and assistance to more than 5.9 million Palestinian refugees. More than 197 agency workers have been killed in bombings in Gaza since 7 October, while the organisation’s facilities have been attacked 453 times.

The main work of this unit in the Gaza Strip is to assist refugees, nine out of ten people in the Strip. In a 10 July report, the agency confirmed that 92 UNRWA medical posts and eight health centers continue to operate in the Gaza Strip, while another 1,050 agency staff continue to work in operational health centers and medical points throughout the Strip. In addition, it has delivered food to a total of 380,225 families (approximately 1.9 million people), of which 367,768 families have received two batches of flour and another 300,978 families have received three batches. In the south of the Strip, the agency has distributed food packages for 1.15 million people containing flour, rice, chickpeas, lentils, cheese, hummus and fish.