The humanitarian crisis in Gaza is now expected to become even more dire after Israel’s parliament passed a bill on Monday banning the United Nations’ Palestinian refugee agency (UNRWA) from operating within Israel and occupied East Jerusalem, accusing the organization of siding with Hamas.
For more than 70 years, UNRWA has offered vital healthcare, education, and aid to Palestinian refugees abroad as well as inside the Palestinian territories.
However, since Israel’s war against Hamas started on October 7, 2023, the agency itself has suffered heavy losses. Two-thirds of its facilities in Gaza have been damaged or destroyed, and at least 223 of its employees have been killed.
Israel’s representative at the UN, Danny Danon, asserted before the Security Council that UNRWA in Gaza has become a front for Hamas, the Palestinian armed group.
The bill prohibits any contact between UNRWA employees and Israeli officials beginning in three months, cutting out one of Palestine’s very few lifelines.
Several countries, including the US and the UK, have expressed serious concerns over the implications of the ban.
US State Department spokesman Matthew Miller urged Israel to reconsider the ban, saying that UNRWA is “irreplaceable” in delivering humanitarian aid in Gaza.
UK Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer said the restrictions run the risk of making UNRWA’s “essential work for Palestinians impossible, jeopardizing the entire international humanitarian response in Gaza.”