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.



Israeli Forces Surround Lebanon’s Khiam Ahead of Storming it

Smoke rises as a result of an Israeli airstrike on the village of al-Khiam in southern Lebanon, as seen from the Israeli side of the border, northern Israel, 22 November 2024, amid cross-border hostilities between Hezbollah and Israel. (EPA)
Smoke rises as a result of an Israeli airstrike on the village of al-Khiam in southern Lebanon, as seen from the Israeli side of the border, northern Israel, 22 November 2024, amid cross-border hostilities between Hezbollah and Israel. (EPA)
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Israeli Forces Surround Lebanon’s Khiam Ahead of Storming it

Smoke rises as a result of an Israeli airstrike on the village of al-Khiam in southern Lebanon, as seen from the Israeli side of the border, northern Israel, 22 November 2024, amid cross-border hostilities between Hezbollah and Israel. (EPA)
Smoke rises as a result of an Israeli airstrike on the village of al-Khiam in southern Lebanon, as seen from the Israeli side of the border, northern Israel, 22 November 2024, amid cross-border hostilities between Hezbollah and Israel. (EPA)

Israeli forces have blocked supply routes to the southern Lebanese border city of al-Khiam ahead of storming it.

They have also surrounded the strategic city with Hezbollah fighters still inside, launching artillery and air attacks against them.

Hezbollah fighters have been holding out in Khiam for 25 days. The capture of the city would be significant and allow Israeli forces easier passage into southern Lebanon.

Field sources said Israeli forces have already entered some neighborhoods of Khiam from its eastern and southern outskirts, expanding their incursion into its northern and eastern sectors to fully capture the city.

They cast doubt on claims that the city has been fully captured, saying fighting is still taking place deeper inside its streets and alleys, citing the ongoing artillery fire and drone and air raids.

Israel has already cut off Hezbollah’s supply routes by seizing control of Bourj al-Mamlouk, Tall al-Nahas and olive groves in al-Qlaa in the Marayoun region. Its forces have also fanned out to the west towards the Litani River.

The troops have set up a “line of fire” spanning at least seven kms around Khiam to deter anti-tank attacks from Hezbollah and to launch artillery, drone and aerial attacks, said the sources.

The intense pressure has forced Hezbollah to resort to suicide drone attacks against Israeli forces.

Hezbollah’s al-Manar television said Israeli forces tried to carry out a new incursion towards Khiam’s northern neighborhoods.

Lebanon’s National News Agency reported that since Friday night, Israeli forces have been using “all forms of weapons in their attempt to capture Khiam, which Israel views as a strategic gateway through which it can make rapid ground advances.”

It reported an increase in air and artillery attacks in the past two days as the forces try to storm the city.

The troops are trying to advance on Khiam by first surrounding it from all sides under air cover, it continued.

They are also booby-trapping some homes and buildings and then destroying them, similar to what they have done in other southern towns, such as Adeisseh, Yaround, Aitaroun and Mais al-Jabal.

Khiam holds symbolic significance to the Lebanese people because it was the first city liberated following Israel’s implementation of United Nations Security Council 425 on May 25, 2000, that led to its withdrawal from the South in a day that Hezbollah has since declared Liberation Day.