To Palestinians, the United Nations Relief and Works Agency, or UNRWA, is a critical lifeline, providing food, water and medicine to hundreds of thousands of Gazans who have endured more than a year of war.

To the Israeli government, it is a dangerous cover for Hamas, the armed Palestinian group that led the 2023 surprise attack on Israel. Now, Israeli legislators have laid the groundwork to ban the agency with the passage of two bills set to take effect this month.

If Israeli authorities enforce the new laws, U.N. officials are warning that no other group will be able to replace UNRWA and that its crucial humanitarian operations in Gaza will grind to a halt at a moment when experts say famine is threatening parts of the territory.

U.N. officials say they are preparing to shutter UNRWA operations in both Gaza and the Israeli-occupied West Bank.

“It would be a massive impact on an already catastrophic situation,” said Jamie McGoldrick, who oversaw the U.N. humanitarian operation across Gaza and the West Bank until April. “If that is what the Israeli intention is — to remove any ability for us to save lives — you have to question what is the thinking and what is the end goal?”

UNRWA, the main U.N. agency that aids Palestinians, stands apart from other agencies in the international body. Its 30,000 employees — mostly Palestinians — operate schools, medical clinics, job-training centers, food banks and even garbage collection for six million Palestinians across Gaza, Jordan, Lebanon, Syria and the West Bank.