UNRWA Chief Says 'Relentless Assault' on Agency Is Harming Palestinians

23 January 2025, Palestinian Territories, Rafah: Trucks loaded with humanitarian aid from UNRWA enter through the Kerem Shalom crossing from Egypt into the Gaza Strip, days after the ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas entered into force. (dpa)
23 January 2025, Palestinian Territories, Rafah: Trucks loaded with humanitarian aid from UNRWA enter through the Kerem Shalom crossing from Egypt into the Gaza Strip, days after the ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas entered into force. (dpa)
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UNRWA Chief Says 'Relentless Assault' on Agency Is Harming Palestinians

23 January 2025, Palestinian Territories, Rafah: Trucks loaded with humanitarian aid from UNRWA enter through the Kerem Shalom crossing from Egypt into the Gaza Strip, days after the ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas entered into force. (dpa)
23 January 2025, Palestinian Territories, Rafah: Trucks loaded with humanitarian aid from UNRWA enter through the Kerem Shalom crossing from Egypt into the Gaza Strip, days after the ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas entered into force. (dpa)

The leader of the UN's Palestinian relief agency UNRWA said Tuesday that Israel's "relentless assault" on the agency was harming the Palestinians, speaking after Israel moved to cut all contact with his organization.

"The relentless assault on UNRWA is harming the lives and future of Palestinians across the occupied Palestinian territory. It is eroding their trust in the international community, jeopardizing any prospect for peace and security," Philippe Lazzarini told a UN Security Council meeting on the issue.

Israel will cease all contact with the UN's Palestinian relief agency UNRWA and any other body acting on its behalf, Israel's envoy to the UN said Tuesday after repeatedly accusing the organization of undermining its security.

UNRWA's offices and staff in Israel play a major role in the provision of healthcare and education to Palestinians, but Israeli officials have long clashed with the agency.

UNRWA claims to have brought in 60 percent of the food to have reached Gaza since the start of the war that followed the October 7, 2023 attacks on Israel.

"The legislation forbids UNRWA from operating within the sovereign territory of the State of Israel, and forbids any contact between Israeli officials and UNWRA," said the envoy, Danny Danon.

He was speaking ahead of a UN Security Council meeting on Israel's passage of legislation ending the organization's legal footing in Israel within 48 hours.

"Israel will terminate all collaboration, communication and contact with UNRWA or anyone acting on its behalf."

Israel claims that a dozen UNRWA employees were involved in the deadly October 7, 2023 assault, and insists that other organizations can pick up the slack to provide essential services, aid and reconstruction -- something the UN disputes.

A series of probes, including one led by France's former foreign minister Catherine Colonna, found some "neutrality related issues" at UNRWA -- but stressed Israel had not provided evidence for its chief allegations.

Lazzarini said UNRWA's "capacity to directly provide primary healthcare for millions of Palestinians, and to resume education for hundreds of thousands of children, far exceeds that of any other entity."

Hamas's October 7 attack on Israel resulted in the deaths of 1,210 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official Israeli figures.

During the attack, gunmen took into Gaza 251 hostages. Eighty-seven remain in the territory, including dozens Israel says are dead.

Israel's retaliatory offensive has killed at least 47,317 people in Gaza, the majority civilians, according to figures from the Hamas-run territory's health ministry that the UN considers reliable.

The war provoked a deep humanitarian crisis, destroying hospitals and sparking outbreaks of infectious diseases while hundreds of thousands of Gazans faced starvation conditions and have depended on food aid.

"We are determined, however, to stay and deliver until it is no longer possible to do so," said Lazzarini.



UN Agency Says Israel Shuts 4 Schools in East Jerusalem

A boy stands outside the gate of the Kalandia vocational training center (KTC), run by the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA), which was raided by Israeli forces earlier at the Qalandiya camp for Palestinian refugees in the occupied West Bank on February 18, 2025. (AFP)
A boy stands outside the gate of the Kalandia vocational training center (KTC), run by the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA), which was raided by Israeli forces earlier at the Qalandiya camp for Palestinian refugees in the occupied West Bank on February 18, 2025. (AFP)
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UN Agency Says Israel Shuts 4 Schools in East Jerusalem

A boy stands outside the gate of the Kalandia vocational training center (KTC), run by the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA), which was raided by Israeli forces earlier at the Qalandiya camp for Palestinian refugees in the occupied West Bank on February 18, 2025. (AFP)
A boy stands outside the gate of the Kalandia vocational training center (KTC), run by the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA), which was raided by Israeli forces earlier at the Qalandiya camp for Palestinian refugees in the occupied West Bank on February 18, 2025. (AFP)

The UN agency for Palestinian refugees says Israeli forces raided four of its schools in east Jerusalem, ordering their closure.

Israel has severed all ties with the agency, known as UNRWA, and bars it from operating in its territory. It says the agency allowed itself to be infiltrated by Hamas in the Gaza Strip, allegations denied by UN officials.

UNRWA said police entered a training center by force on Tuesday, firing tear gas and sound grenades and ordering its evacuation. It said 350 students and 30 staff were present during the raid on the Qalandiya Training Center.

It said police and city officials ordered the closure of three other schools in east Jerusalem, two of which proceeded with the school day.

Israeli police spokesman Dean Elsdunne said police did not enter the UN buildings and that Jerusalem municipal authorities carried out the closures. He said police were deployed to protect the city workers, using “riot dispersal” means in one case where a crowd threw stones at them outside a UN facility.

Roland Friedrich, UNRWA director for the occupied West Bank, including east Jerusalem, said the raids were an “unacceptable violation of United Nations privileges and immunities,” and a “denial of the right to education for children and trainees.”