Israel's parliament is scheduled to vote Monday on a pair of bills that would effectively sever ties with the UN agency responsible for distributing aid in Gaza, strip it of legal immunities and restrict its ability to support Palestinians in east Jerusalem and the West Bank.
Israel accuses the UN Relief and Works Agency, or UNRWA, of turning a blind eye to Hamas militants it says have infiltrated its staff, including a small number of its 13,000 employees in Gaza who participated in the Oct. 7, 2023 attack on southern Israel. The agency denies it knowingly aids armed groups and says it acts quickly to purge any suspected militants from its ranks.
The bills risk crippling humanitarian aid distribution in the Gaza Strip, at a time the United States is pressing Israel to allow in more food and other supplies. More than 1.9 million Palestinians are displaced from their homes and Gaza faces widespread shortages of food, water and medicine.
The bills, which do not include provisions for alternative organizations to oversee its work, have been strongly criticized by international aid groups and a handful of Israel's Western allies, The AP reported.
One bill would effectively strip UNRWA from operating in Israel and the Palestinian territories; the other would bar it from operating in east Jerusalem. UNRWA provides education, health care and other basic services to millions of Palestinian refugees across the region, including in the Israeli-occupied West Bank.
If approved, the bills would not go into effect immediately; they would go into effect 60 to 90 days after Israel’s Foreign Ministry notifies the UN, according to the spokesperson of parliamentarian Dan Illouz, one of the co-sponsors.
The foreign ministers of Canada, Australia, France, Germany, Japan, the Republic of Korea and the United Kingdom issued a joint statement condemning the bills.
“If it passes and if it’s implemented, it’s a disaster” said Juliette Touma, communications director for the agency. “UNRWA is the largest humanitarian organization in Gaza ... Who can do its job?”
Death toll in Gaza surpasses 43,000 More than 43,000 Palestinians have been killed in the yearlong war in Gaza, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry.
The tally includes 96 dead who arrived at hospitals in Gaza over the past two days, the ministry said.
