Israel Must Step in If It Bans the UN Agency That Is a Lifeline for Gaza, UN Says

A man squats by a wall bearing a mural representing the UNRWA (United Nations Relief and Works Agency) at the aid agency's center at the Nuseirat camp for Palestinian refugees in the central Gaza Strip on October 29, 2024. (AFP)
A man squats by a wall bearing a mural representing the UNRWA (United Nations Relief and Works Agency) at the aid agency's center at the Nuseirat camp for Palestinian refugees in the central Gaza Strip on October 29, 2024. (AFP)
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Israel Must Step in If It Bans the UN Agency That Is a Lifeline for Gaza, UN Says

A man squats by a wall bearing a mural representing the UNRWA (United Nations Relief and Works Agency) at the aid agency's center at the Nuseirat camp for Palestinian refugees in the central Gaza Strip on October 29, 2024. (AFP)
A man squats by a wall bearing a mural representing the UNRWA (United Nations Relief and Works Agency) at the aid agency's center at the Nuseirat camp for Palestinian refugees in the central Gaza Strip on October 29, 2024. (AFP)

The United Nations stressed Tuesday that if Israel puts in place new laws cutting ties with the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, the Israeli government will have to meet their needs under international law.

Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said in a letter obtained by The Associated Press that there is no other alternative to the agency, known as UNRWA. It has been a lifeline during the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza, and the Israeli legislation “will have devastating consequences for Palestinian refugees” in Gaza, the West Bank and East Jerusalem, he said.

The UN agencies for children, health and migration also stressed that UNRWA is the “backbone” of the world body’s operations in Gaza, where people have relied on its emergency food aid and health centers during the more than yearlong war, which has killed tens of thousands and left much of the enclave in ruins.

The United Nations is heartened by statements of support for UNRWA from all quarters and countries, UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric said, and “we would very much appreciate efforts by any member state to help us get over this hurdle.”

Israel has alleged that some of UNRWA’s 13,000 staffers in Gaza participated in the Oct. 7, 2023, attacks by Hamas that sparked the war. It's also accused hundreds of UNRWA staff of having militant ties and said it has found Hamas military assets in or under the agency’s facilities.

Israel's new laws

Two laws passed Monday could prevent UNRWA from continuing its work. Even the US, Israel's closest ally, joined many governments and humanitarian organizations in opposing the legislation, which doesn’t take effect for three months.

Guterres sent the letter Tuesday to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu outlining his concerns.

As an occupying power, under international humanitarian law, Israel is required to ensure the needs of the Palestinians are met, including for food, health care and education, Guterres said. And if Israel isn’t in a position to meet those needs, it has an obligation to allow and facilitate the activities of the UN, and “UNRWA is the principal means by which assistance is supplied to Palestinian refugees,” he said.

If UNRWA's activities are restricted or halted, the secretary-general said, Israel would have to fill the vacuum “to ensure the needs of the population are met.”

“Otherwise, it would be in violation of international law,” said Dujarric, the UN spokesman.

Israel’s UN Ambassador Danny Danon responded to the letter by saying, “Rather than condemning UNRWA for turning a blind eye to terrorism and in some cases participating in terrorism, the UN instead condemns Israel.”

He claimed in a statement that UNRWA isn’t interested in providing humanitarian aid to Gaza, calling it “nothing but an arm of Hamas operating under the guise of the United Nations.”

“Israel will continue to facilitate humanitarian aid in Gaza according to international law,” Danon said, “but UNRWA has failed in its mandate and is no longer the right agency for this job.”

Dismay from UN agencies

World Health Organization spokesman Tarik Jasarevic said UNRWA health workers have provided over 6 million medical consultations over the past year. They also offered immunizations, disease surveillance and screening for malnutrition, and UNRWA’s work “couldn’t be matched by any agency — including WHO,” he said.

Jeremy Laurence, spokesman for the UN human rights office, said that “without UNRWA, the delivery of food, shelter, health care, education, amongst other things, to most of Gaza’s population would grind to a halt.”

UNRWA was established by the UN General Assembly in 1949 to provide relief for Palestinians who fled or were expelled from their homes before and during the 1948 Arab-Israeli war that followed Israel’s establishment, as well as their descendants.

Israel faces criticism

Timed to the Israeli laws, Norway announced Tuesday that it will ask the 193-nation General Assembly to request a ruling from the top United Nations court about whether Israel is obligated to facilitate the delivery of humanitarian aid to Palestinians by international organizations, including the UN.

The International Court of Justice in July condemned Israel’s rule over the Palestinian territories, declaring its occupation unlawful. The nonbinding opinion called on Israel to end its occupation and immediately halt settlement construction.

Norway’s foreign minister, Espen Barth Eide, told the AP that Israel's policy is making it increasingly difficult for Palestinians to access life-saving assistance. He said Norway will argue that even if Israel's occupation is illegal, it has obligations, "and we believe that these are not met.”

Guterres told Netanyahu that while the Israeli laws prohibit any activity by UNRWA “within the sovereign territory of the State of Israel,” the UN considers Gaza, the West Bank and East Jerusalem part of the occupied Palestinian territory and Israel has no sovereignty because of its occupation.

Meanwhile, at the UN’s regular Security Council meeting on the Middle East — this month open to all UN members — speakers supported UNRWA and virtually all called for immediate ceasefires in Gaza and Lebanon.

US Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield expressed deep concern at the Israeli legislation, saying, “right now there is no alternative to UNRWA when it comes to delivering food and other life-saving aid in Gaza.”

She also called on Guterres “to create a mechanism to review and address allegations that UNRWA personnel have ties to Hamas and other terrorist groups.”

Dujarric, the UN spokesman, said its internal watchdog is working on that. He said a letter from the Israeli government last week raising specific undisclosed issues is also being looked at “extremely seriously.”

US State Department spokesman Matthew Miller went further, warning that the Israeli legislation “poses risks for millions of Palestinians who rely on UNRWA for essential services.”

Miller reiterated that the US opposes the legislation and will be discussing it with Israel in the days ahead. He says there may be consequences under US law and policy if it takes effect, referencing a letter that Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin sent to their Israeli counterparts saying humanitarian aid must increase or the country risks losing military assistance.



34 Palestinians Killed in New Shootings Near Food Distribution Centers, Medics Say

Smoke rises following Israeli strikes, in Khan Younis, in the southern Gaza Strip, June 16, 2025. (Reuters)
Smoke rises following Israeli strikes, in Khan Younis, in the southern Gaza Strip, June 16, 2025. (Reuters)
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34 Palestinians Killed in New Shootings Near Food Distribution Centers, Medics Say

Smoke rises following Israeli strikes, in Khan Younis, in the southern Gaza Strip, June 16, 2025. (Reuters)
Smoke rises following Israeli strikes, in Khan Younis, in the southern Gaza Strip, June 16, 2025. (Reuters)

At least 34 Palestinians were killed Monday in new shootings on the roads leading to Israeli- and US-supported food distribution centers in the Gaza Strip, the local Health Ministry said. 

The toll was the deadliest yet in the near-daily shootings that have taken place as thousands of Palestinians move through Israeli military-controlled areas to reach the food centers.  

As on previous days, witnesses said Israeli troops opened fire in an attempt to control crowds.  

The ministry says several hundred people have been killed and hundreds more wounded in such shootings since the centers, run by the private contractor Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, opened three weeks ago. 

There was no immediate comment by the Israeli military. It has said in previous instances that troops fired warning shots at what it calls suspects approaching their positions. 

Gaza's Health Ministry said 33 Palestinians were killed trying to reach the GHF center near the southern city of Rafah and another on route to a GHF hub in central Gaza. It said four other people were killed elsewhere. 

Witnesses describe crowds under fire Israeli troops started firing as thousands of Palestinians massed around 4 a.m. at the Flag Roundabout before the scheduled opening time of the Rafah food center, according to Heba Jouda and Mohamed Abed, two Palestinians who were in the crowd. 

People fell to the ground, trying to take cover, they said. "Fire was coming from everywhere," said Jouda, who has repeatedly made the journey to get food for her family over the past week. "It’s getting worse day by day," she said. 

The Red Cross field hospital nearby received some 200 injured Monday, the highest single mass casualty event, the International Committee of the Red Cross said in a statement. Only a day earlier, it said, around 170 were brought to the facility, most of them wounded by gunshots while trying to reach the GHF center. The Health Ministry toll made it the deadliest day around the food sites since June 2, when 31 people were killed. 

The Flag Roundabout, hundreds of meters (yards) from the GHF center, has been a repeated scene of shootings. It is on the route designated by the Israeli military for people to take to reach the center. 

Palestinians over the past weeks have said Israeli troops open fire to prevent people from moving past a certain point on the road before the scheduled opening of the center or because people leave the road. 

A GHF spokesperson told The Associated Press on Sunday that "none of the incidents to date have occurred at our sites or during operating hours." It said the incidents have involved aid-seekers who were moving "during prohibited times ... or trying to take a short cut." It said it was trying to improve safety measures, including by recently moving the opening times from nighttime to daylight hours. 

A new aid distribution system Israel and the United States say the new GHF system is needed to prevent Hamas from siphoning off aid. GHF says there has been no violence in or around the sites themselves. 

UN agencies and major aid groups, which have delivered humanitarian aid across Gaza since the start of the 20-month Israel-Hamas war, have rejected the new system, saying it can’t meet the territory’s needs and allows Israel to use aid as a weapon. They deny there is widespread theft of aid by Hamas. 

Palestinian health officials say scores of people have been killed and hundreds wounded since the sites opened last month. Experts have warned that Israel’s ongoing military campaign and restrictions on the entry of aid have put Gaza, which is home to some 2 million Palestinians, at risk of famine. 

Meanwhile, a new UN food crisis report released on Monday said the resumption of military operations in Gaza was escalating the food crisis in Gaza "to unprecedented levels."    

The Hunger Hotspots report by the World Food Program and Food and Agricultural Organization said that no adequate humanitarian aid or commercial supplies have reached the Gaza Strip since the end of the eight-week ceasefire, the longest interruption since the start of the conflict.     

According to the latest projections, released in May, the whole of Gaza's 2.1 million people are at risk of falling into acute food insecurity by September.   

The UN human rights chief said Israel’s warfare in Gaza is inflicting "horrifying, unconscionable suffering" on Palestinians and urged government leaders to exert pressure on Israel’s government and the Hamas movement to end it.  

"Israel’s means and methods of warfare are inflicting horrifying, unconscionable suffering on Palestinians in Gaza," Volker Türk told the 47-member Human Rights Council in an address that raised concerns about the escalating conflict between Iran and Israel and the fallout from sweeping US tariffs among other topics.   

Israeli authorities have regularly accused the council of anti-Israel bias, and the Trump administration has kept the United States out of its proceedings. 

Israel’s military campaign since October 2023 has killed over 55,300 Palestinians, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry. It says women and children make up most of the dead but doesn’t distinguish between civilians and combatants. Israel says it has killed more than 20,000 fighters, without providing evidence. 

Hamas started the latest war in Gaza with its Oct. 7, 2023, attack on southern Israel, with gunmen killing around 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and taking another 251 hostage. The fighters still hold 53 hostages, fewer than half of them alive, after most of the rest were released in ceasefire agreements or other deals.