UN chief appeals Israeli law banning UNRWA
U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has appealed to Israel's government to retract a new law essentially banning the U.N. agency that assists Palestinians. The law goes into effect this week.
'I regret this decision and request that the Government of Israel retract it,' Guterres wrote in a Monday letter to Israeli U.N. Ambassador Danny Danon that was obtained by VOA.
The U.N. chief said the U.N. Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees, or UNRWA as it is known, is irreplaceable and that no other organization has the capacity or mandate to do its work.
On Oct. 28, Israel's parliament adopted legislation to ban UNRWA. Israel says some UNRWA staff participated in the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attack inside Israel. The United Nations investigated the accusations and fired nine staffers.
'The legislation forbids UNRWA from operating within the sovereign territory of the state of Israel, and forbids any contact between Israeli officials and UNRWA,' Israel's ambassador told reporters Tuesday. 'Furthermore, UNRWA will be prohibited from maintaining any representative office, service or activity within our territory. Israel will terminate all collaboration, communication and contact with UNRWA, or anyone acting on its behalf.'
Danon said UNRWA must cease all operations and evacuate its headquarters in East Jerusalem. The secretary-general said in his letter that Israel's 'unilateral demand' that UNRWA 'cease operations and evacuate all premises within less than a week of formal notice' is 'unreasonable and inconsistent' with Israel's international obligations and that the U.N. and Israel should have discussions about the law, which goes into effect on Thursday.
Impact on Gaza
At a meeting of the Security Council on Tuesday to discuss the situation, UNRWA Commissioner General Philippe Lazzarini said implementing the law now would be disastrous.
He said the agency is even more critical as the Israeli-Hamas ceasefire is implemented and humanitarian agencies race to provide aid to millions of Palestinians.
'Across the Gaza Strip, Palestinians are turning to UNRWA — the agency they have known all their lives — for support,' Lazzarini said. 'Curtailing our operations now — outside a political process, and when trust in the international community is so low — will undermine the ceasefire. It will sabotage Gaza's recovery and political transition.'
Israeli officials say other aid agencies can take over UNRWA's work, but Lazzarini disagreed.
'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,' he told the council. 'Since the ceasefire began, UNRWA has brought in 60% of the food entering Gaza, reaching more than half a million people.'
The agency also is the primary provider of health care and education for Palestinians in East Jerusalem, Gaza and the West Bank.
'We are determined, however, to stay and deliver until it is no longer possible to do so,' Lazzarini said.
United Nations officials have repeatedly stressed that if the Knesset legislation is enforced and UNRWA dismantled, then Israel, as the occupying power, would have the legal responsibility for providing essential services to the Palestinian population.
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