What might Israeli legislation on a UN aid agency mean for Gaza?

Israel’s parliament has passed two laws that could prevent the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, Gaza’s main aid provider, from continuing its work.

The laws prohibit UNRWA from operating in Israel, designate it as a terrorist organization, and sever all ties between the agency and the Israeli government.

It is the culmination of a long campaign against the agency, which Israel says has been infiltrated by Hamas. But supporters say Israel’s real goal is to sideline the Palestinian refugee issue.

The agency is the main distributor of aid in the Gaza Strip and provides education, health care and other basic services to millions of Palestinian refugees throughout the region, including in the Israeli-occupied West Bank.

The agency’s head, Commissioner General Philippe Lazzarini, called the move “unprecedented” after the vote on X, earlier on Twitter, and said the bills would “only worsen the suffering of the Palestinians, especially in the Gaza Strip, where people have endured more than their share of hardships.” a year of real hell.”

Israel accuses the agency of turning a blind eye to employees it says belong to Hamas, diverting aid and using UNRWA facilities for military purposes.

Israel says about a dozen of its 13,000 employees in the Gaza Strip took part in the attack on southern Israel on October 7, 2023. The agency denies it knowingly aids armed groups and says it is moving quickly to clear its employees of any suspected militants.

– How will the bills hinder UNRWA?

One of the bills, passed Monday night, would ban all UNRWA activities and services on Israeli soil and is due to take effect in three months.

The second bill would designate UNRWA a terrorist organization, sever all ties between government officials and UNRWA, and strip its employees of legal immunity.

Together, the bills would likely bar the agency from operating in Israel and the Palestinian territories, as Israel controls access to both the Gaza Strip and the West Bank. This could force the agency to move its headquarters from Israeli-annexed East Jerusalem.

Earlier this month, Mr Lazzarini warned that humanitarian operations in the Gaza Strip “could fall apart” if the law were passed, disrupting food, shelter and health services as winter sets in.

Gaza’s population of about 2.3 million depends almost entirely on aid to survive. About 90% of the population was displaced.

Hundreds of thousands live in tent camps and schools turned shelters, most of which are run by UNRWA. Experts say hunger is rampant.

The Israeli campaign in response to the Oct. 7 attack has killed more than 43,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza’s health ministry.

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.

– What is the history of UNRWA?

The UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East was created to assist the estimated 700,000 Palestinians who fled or were expelled from what is now Israel during the 1948 war that created Israel.

UNRWA supporters say Israel hopes to solve the Palestinian refugee problem by dismantling the agency. Israel says the refugees should be permanently resettled in other countries, and the agency’s Israeli opponents believe cutting off UNRWA services would force them to do so.

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

The issue has been one of the most difficult in the peace process, which stalled in 2009.

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

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

UNRWA immediately fired staff accused of participating in the attack in which Hamas-led militants killed about 1,200 people and abducted about 250.

An independent investigation earlier this year found UNRWA had “robust” mechanisms in place to ensure its neutrality, but pointed to gaps in their implementation, including staff publicly expressing political views and textbooks with “problematic content” in schools it runs. UNRWA.

UNRWA says it thoroughly investigates any allegations of wrongdoing and holds staff accountable, and provides lists of all its staff to Israel and host countries. It said Israel had largely ignored its requests to provide evidence of its claims against employees.

Israel has repeatedly targeted UN schools-turned-safehouses, alleging Hamas militants were operating inside them. He also reports that he has discovered tunnels running next to or under UNRWA facilities.

UNRWA has long been the largest employer in Gaza, whose population has been impoverished by years of Israeli and Egyptian blockades.

Hamas has ruled the territory since 2007 and carries out civilian political operations alongside its armed wing.

The militant wings of Hamas and other groups are highly secretive, and their members are virtually unknown outside the intelligence services. This complicates efforts by civilian organizations to vet employees.

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

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

Several Western countries have suspended funding to UNRWA following allegations related to the October 7 attack. All countries except the US, which was its largest donor, have since reinstated it.

The Biden administration recently warned Israel that if it does not allow increased aid to the Gaza Strip, it could lose some of the crucial American military aid it has relied on throughout the war.

A letter sent by US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin to their Israeli counterparts said they shared Israel’s concerns about the “serious allegations” of UNRWA personnel involved in the October 7 attack and Hamas’ “misuse of UNRWA facilities.”

But it said imposing restrictions on the bills “would result in a devastation of humanitarian assistance in Gaza at this critical juncture… which could have consequences under relevant U.S. law and policy.”

A joint statement last week from Canada, Australia, France, Germany, Japan, South Korea and Britain expressed “serious concerns” about the law.

The statement said the agency provides “essential and life-saving humanitarian assistance” without which provision would be “severely hampered, if not impossible.”