Israel's parliament overwhelmingly passed legislation on Monday banning a United Nations agency supplying essential services to Palestinian refugees from operating in territory it occupies, a move that could exact a high humanitarian cost. The US is among the nations expressing concern about the decision, CNN reports. "There's nobody that can replace them right now in the middle of the crisis," a State Department spokesperson said before the vote. "It would be a catastrophe," UN Secretary-General António Guterres had warned earlier, "in what is already an unmitigated disaster."
The legislation also bars Israeli officials from having any contact with UNRWA officials, despite a 1967 treaty allowing the agency to provide the relief. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in a statement repeated accusations that employees of UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees are involved in terrorist activities. A UN office completed an investigation in August that debunked some such accusations and found insufficient evidence to support others, per NBC News. Philippe Lazzarini, head of the agency, posted on X that Israel's move violates the UN charter and puts an entire generation of children at risk. Arab members of the Knesset also put up strident opposition.
In Gaza, which has been punished by strikes since the Israeli-Hamas war began more than a year ago, the agency helps roughly 1.7 million Palestinian refugees. It assists more than 871,000 in West Bank and East Jerusalem. In total, it helps some 5.9 million across the Middle East, many of whom live in refugee camps, per CNN. It was founded in 1949, a year after the creation of Israel that resulted in the displacement of hundreds of thousands of Palestinians. The aid UNRWA provides includes shelter, health care, food, and education services. (More Israel-Hamas war stories.)
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