Israel/OPT: Law to ban UNRWA amounts to criminalisation of humanitarian aid

30 October 2024

Reacting to the news that the Israeli parliament has passed a law to ban the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) from operating inside Israel, Amnesty International's Secretary General, Agnès Callamard, said:

"This unconscionable law is an outright attack on the rights of Palestinian refugees. It is clearly designed to make it impossible for the agency to operate in the Occupied Palestinian Territory by forcing the closure of the UNRWA headquarters in East Jerusalem and ending visas for its staff. It amounts to the criminalization of humanitarian aid and will worsen an already catastrophic humanitarian crisis.

"UNRWA has played an indispensable role in offering, food, water, medical aid, education and shelter to the nearly 2 million Palestinians in Gaza who have been forcibly displaced, subjected to an engineered famine, and stand at serious risk of genocide as a result of Israel's relentless offensive in the last 12 months. This law flies in the face of the International Court of Justice order to Israel to ensure sufficient humanitarian assistance and facilitate basic services.

"UNRWA has been a lifeline for Palestinian refugees in the occupied Gaza Strip and the West Bank and in neighbouring countries throughout the 75 years since its foundation. The plight of the Palestinian people would be even more severe if not for UNRWA's tireless work over the last three quarters of a century.

"This appalling, inhumane law will only exacerbate the suffering of Palestinians, who have endured unimaginable hardship since the horrific attacks by Hamas and other armed groups in southern Israel one year ago, and whoseneed for global support is greater than ever. The international community must be quick to condemn it in the strongest possible terms and exert any influence they have on the Israeli government to repeal it."

"This appalling, inhumane law will only exacerbate the suffering of Palestinians, who have endured unimaginable hardship since the horrific attacks by Hamas and other armed groups in southern Israel one year ago, and whoseneed for global support is greater than ever. The international community must be quick to condemn it in the strongest possible terms and exert any influence they have on the Israeli government to repeal it."

Background

Founded in 1949, the UNRWA is a UN agency that supports the relief and human development of Palestinian refugees. It is funded almost entirely by voluntary contributions from UN Member States.

UNRWA has defined Palestine refugees as "persons whose regular place of residence was Palestine during the period 1 June 1946 to 15 May 1948, and who lost both home and means of livelihood as a result of the 1948 conflict."

At a time when Israel, the occupying power, continues to flagrantly violate its obligations vis-à-vis Palestinian refugees in Gaza and the rest of the Occupied Palestinian Territory, UNRWA has long served as a sole lifeline, offering indispensable humanitarian aid, education and shelter. The agency also provides desperately needed aid for millions of other Palestinian refugees living in neighbouring Arab countries.

In January 2024 over a dozen states and the European Union announced the suspension of funding to UNRWA, following allegations that individual staff members were involved in the 7 October attacks carried out by Hamas and other armed groups in southern Israel. UNRWA immediately dismissed nine employees over the allegations at the time.

Almost all of the states that had previously suspended funding for UNRWA have since reinstated their financial support, aside from the United States, where funding remains frozen until at least March 2025.