Israel's parliament, on Monday, October 28, approved a bill banning the United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) from working in Israel, despite objections from the United States.
Lawmakers passed the bill with 92 votes in favour and 10 against, after years of harsh Israeli criticism of UNRWA, which has only increased since the start of the war in Gaza following Hamas's deadly October 7 attacks last year.
The ban on the UN agency – which has provided essential aid and assistance across Palestinian territories and to Palestinian refugees elsewhere for more than seven decades – represents a blow to humanitarian work in Gaza.
The UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) on Monday condemned the Israeli parliament's approval of a bill banning its activities in Israel and occupied east Jerusalem, calling the move "outrageous".
"It's outrageous that a member state of the United Nations is working to dismantle a UN agency which also happens to be the largest responder in the humanitarian operation in Gaza," Juliette Touma, spokeswoman for UNRWA, told Agence France-Presse (AFP). "If it's implemented it's a disaster including due to the impact this is likely to have on the humanitarian operation in Gaza and in several parts of the West Bank," she said, adding the agency is the lead provider of "shelter, food and primary health care" in war-battered Gaza.
UNRWA and other humanitarian agencies have accused Israeli authorities of restricting aid flows into Gaza, where almost all of the territory's 2.4 million people have been displaced at least once in the war. UNRWA itself has suffered heavy losses, with at least 223 of its staff killed and two-thirds of the agency's facilities in Gaza damaged or destroyed since the war began.
Over the weekend, a statement by foreign ministers from several Western countries slammed the proposed legislation targeting the UN agency.
Separately, British Foreign Minister David Lammy denounced the Israeli bill. "It's a matter of profound regret that the Israeli parliament is considering shutting down UNRWA's operations," Lammy told British MPs in parliament.
"The allegations against UNRWA staff earlier this year were fully investigated, and offer no justification for cutting off ties with UNRWA," Lammy said. Lammy added that banning the organisation – which provides healthcare, schooling and aid in both the Gaza Strip and the occupied West Bank – would not be in Israel's "interests."
The United States on Monday expressed its concern about the bill. "We have made quite clear to the government of Israel that we are deeply concerned by this, this proposed legislation," State Department spokesman Matthew Miller told reporters, reiterating the "critical" role the agency plays in distributing humanitarian aid in the Gaza Strip.
In January, Israel accused a dozen of UNRWA's Gaza employees of involvement in the October 7 attack by Hamas, which sparked the deadliest war in the territory. A report by France's former foreign minister Catherine Colonna found some "neutrality related issues" at UNRWA, and determined that nine employees "may have been involved" in the October 7 attack, but found no evidence for Israel's chief allegations.
"There is a deep connection between the terrorist organization (Hamas) and UNRWA and Israel cannot put up with it," Yuli Edelstein, a Likud party lawmaker and one of the sponsors of the bill, said in parliament as he presented the proposal. "There is no place for enemies in the heart of the capital of the Jewish people." Israel claims the whole of Jerusalem, including the annexed east, as its indivisible capital.
The ban, a combination of two different private members bills presented to the Knesset by lawmakers from both the government and opposition, effectively prevents UNRWA from operating in Israel. The legislation would also target the agency's operations in east Jerusalem, where it currently provides some essential services such as cleaning, education, and healthcare in certain neighbourhoods.
"There is a big gap between how UNRWA is viewed by some in the international community and how people in Israel see the agency," Boaz Bismuth, an Israeli lawmaker who co-sponsored one of the pieces of legislation, told AFP.