Iman Helles, a displaced mother sheltering in a facility run by the UN agency for Palestinian refugees in Gaza, fears that she will now be \u201cthrown out to the streets\u201d with her three children. <\/p>\n
Israel\u2019s ban on the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) came into effect on Thursday, and Helles relies almost fully on the organization to support her family in the devastated enclave. <\/p>\n
Helles is among millions of Palestinians relying on the UN agency for sustenance, education and livelihoods, not only in Gaza but also across the West Bank and occupied East Jerusalem. <\/p>\n
In October, Israel\u2019s parliament, the Knesset, passed two bills \u2013 one barring UNRWA from activity within Israel, and another banning Israeli authorities from any contact with UNRWA. The second bill revokes a 1967 treaty that allows the agency to provide services to Palestinian refugees in areas under Israel\u2019s control. <\/p>\n
The legislation came into effect Thursday, and it is expected to severely restrict UNRWA\u2019s activities, with a potentially devastating human impact. <\/p>\n
Israel has been trying to shut down the agency for years, but it escalated measures against it after Hamas-led militants attacked the country on October 7, 2023, killing 1,200 people and taking more than 250 hostage. Israel accused some UNRWA employees of participating in that attack. <\/p>\n
A UN investigation found that nine employees from UNWRA\u2019s 13,000 staff in Gaza \u201cmay have\u201d been involved in the attack and no longer work at the agency. But UNRWA has long maintained that Israel hasn\u2019t provided it with evidence against its former employees. The agency says it had regularly provided Israel with a full list of its staff members and has accused Israel of detaining and torturing some of its staffers, coercing them into making false confessions about ties to Hamas. <\/p>\n
How Israel intends to proceed with the ban remains unclear, but some of its effects are already underway. On Sunday, Israel ordered UNRWA to \u201cvacate all premises in occupied East Jerusalem and cease its operations in them by 30 January 2025,\u201d the UN agency said. <\/p>\n
Israel also shortened the validity of all visas for UNRWA\u2019s international staff to Wednesday, the UN said. This \u201cis tantamount to being evicted,\u201d UNRWA spokesperson Jonathan Fowler said. <\/p>\n
\u201cUNRWA\u2019s international staff at the East Jerusalem office had to evacuate and relocate to Amman, Jordan earlier in the day,\u201d the UN said Wednesday. \u201cOffice equipment and vehicles have been moved out, and efforts are continuing to digitize its archives.\u201d <\/p>\n
Days before the ban, the UN warned against its detrimental effects, while Israel insisted the agency is replaceable, and that it is committed to the flow of aid into Gaza. <\/p>\n
UNRWA chief Philippe Lazzarini said on Tuesday that its implementation will be \u201cdisastrous.\u201d <\/p>\n
\u201cThe government of Israel claims that UNRWA\u2019s services can be transferred to other entities,\u201d Lazzarini said, adding that his agency is unique in its mandate \u201cto provide public-like services,\u201d which \u201ccan only be transferred to a functioning state.\u201d <\/p>\n
In a Tuesday speech at the UN, Israel\u2019s representative, Danny Danon, said that \u201cthis legislation is about what is happening in Israel; it\u2019s not about what\u2019s happening in Gaza, in Jordan, in Lebanon. But we will not allow UNRWA to work from Israel.\u201d <\/p>\n
Danon added that UNRWA\u2019s role in Gaza is expected to be phased out and replaced by other UN agencies. \u201cI think it\u2019s going to be a gradual process until other agencies will step in and will take their positions,\u201d Danon told reporters. <\/p>\n
Israeli government spokesperson David Mencer said on Wednesday that some of these agencies will include the World Food Programme (WFP), UN children\u2019s agency (UNICEF) and UN Office for Project Services (UNOPS), which already operate in Gaza. All three agencies have worked closely with UNRWA, with WFP and UNICEF condemning the ban on their partner UN agency. <\/p>\n
More than 912,000 Palestinian refugees are also registered with UNRWA in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, around a quarter of whom live in 19 refugee camps. In the West Bank, UNRWA caters to more than 45,000 students, and runs some 96 schools, 43 healthcare facilities and 19 women\u2019s centers. It has also provided loans amounting to $225.3 million. <\/p>\n
Israel insists Palestinians will not experience an aid vacuum, saying that UNRWA\u2019s aid contribution is minimal \u2013 a claim refuted by both UNRWA and other UN agencies. <\/p>\n
Other agencies \u201cwill have no choice but to continue and to increase their efforts,\u201d Danon said. <\/p>\n
The ban also raises questions about the safety of thousands of UNRWA workers in Gaza, of whom more than 270 have already been killed since the war began, according to the agency. The conflict has also killed more than 47,000 Palestinians in Gaza, according to the health ministry there. <\/p>\n
Asked if UNRWA staff are safe, Danon said: \u201cIt\u2019s not (up to) us to take care of their safety.\u201d <\/p>\n
Mencer described UNRWA on Wednesday as \u201ca failed institution\u201d that is \u201cpermeated with terrorism.\u201d He then accused the agency of perpetuating the conflict, saying it \u201cglorifies Jew-killing, glorifies jihad.\u201d <\/p>\n
Hoda Hussein, who was displaced with her family from north of Khan Younis, described the UNRWA ban as \u201ca second starvation and a new war on the Gaza Strip.\u201d <\/p>\n
\u201cWe rely on God, then on them (UNRWA),\u201d she said, adding that for 15 months they had nowhere else to go. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe rely on it fully, for everything.\u201d <\/p>\n<\/p>\n
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