UNRWA says it is continuing aid work despite the agency’s Israeli ban

The Palestinian UN Palestinian Rescue Agency said on Friday that its humanitarian work through the West Bank and Gaza was still underway despite an Israeli ban which has taken effect and what it described as hostility to its staff .

An Israeli law adopted in October prohibits operations by UNRWA (Agence for Rescue and United Nations for Palestinian Refugees) on Israeli land – including East Jerusalem – and contacts with Israeli authorities from 30 January.

Great Britain, France and Germany have reiterated their concerns concerning Israel taking into account the new law, which, according to humanitarian agencies, will have a huge impact on devastated Gaza as staff and provides transit to ‘Palestinian enclave via Israel. Israel says other organizations already manage the majority of assistance work in Gaza.

“We continue to provide services,” said Juliette Touma, director of communications at UNRWA, at a press briefing in Geneva. “In Gaza, UNRWA continues to be the backbone of the international humanitarian response. We continue to have international personnel in Gaza, and we continue to bring trucks of basic supplies. »»

She declared that any disruption of her work in Gaza would endanger a cease-fire contract which interrupted the war between Israel and Hamas.

“If an UNRWA is not allowed to continue to bring and distribute supplies, the fate of this very fragile ceasefire will be in danger and will be in danger,” she said.

Tens of thousands of Palestinian refugees in East Jerusalem also receive education, health care and other UNRWA services.

Touma said its Palestinian staff in the West Bank and East Jerusalem faced difficulties, citing examples of stone launchers and selected on control points and demonstrations on its sites, blaming “Israeli extremists” .

“They face an exceptionally hostile environment while a fierce disinformation campaign against UNRWA continues,” she said. “It was a really difficult driving, it was not easy. Our staff have not been protected. »»

The Israeli demonstrators vandalized a United Nations sign on Thursday outside one of its East Jerusalem compounds by spending a David blue star.

International staff already left after the expiration of their visas, she added. The agency reported that more than 270 of its employees killed in the 15 -month Gaza War and called for surveys.

Israel has long criticized UNRWA, claiming that it perpetuates the Israeli -Palestinian conflict by granting refugee status to the descendants of refugees – a designation that has not been allowed to any other refugee in the world. He also accused the agency of promoting hatred in its schools, promoting Palestinian dependence on aid for decades through its system and allowing terrorists to infiltrate its ranks, some participating in the atrocities of 7 October and hundreds of others with links with terrorist groups.

The cease-fire agreement has enabled an increase in humanitarian aid and allowed the release of Israeli hostages to Gaza in exchange for Palestinian prisoners held by Israel, many of whom condemned murderers.

Before the agreement, the experts had warned against imminent famine in certain parts of the north of Gaza, a charge that Israel has rejected several times. The supplies have since increased and the global food program said that more than 32,000 tonnes of food had entered Gaza since the January 19 agreement entered into force.

Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar said that Israel was determined to facilitate humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip, saying aid should go through other international agencies and NGOs.

“Humanitarian aid does not correspond to UNRWA and those who wish to support the effort of humanitarian aid in the Gaza Strip should invest their resources in alternative organizations in UNRWA,” he said in A press release. “We will respect the law and we will continue to facilitate humanitarian aid.”

UNRWA is now forbidden to operate on Israeli soil, and contact between it and Israeli officials is also prohibited.

The prohibition was adopted by the Knesset in November with a large majority, with the support of the opposition parties, in the middle of a series of revelations on the employees of the agency who were actively involved in terrorist groups in The Gaza Strip, the participation of some of its employees in October 7, 2023, the invasion and slaughter of Hamas, and the repeated use of UNRWA infrastructure for terrorist activities.

Israel has also provided evidence that agency schools prompted Israel’s hatred and the glorification of attacks on Israelis.

UNRWA was created in 1949 following the War of Independence of Israel. It provides aid, health and education to millions of Palestinians in Gaza, West Bank and neighboring Arab countries – Syria, Lebanon and Jordan.

Some 5.9 million people are recorded as Palestinian refugees by UNRWA, because they descend from the Arabs displaced in the war surrounding the creation of Israel in 1948.

This is one of the only two refugee agencies in the United Nations. While UNRWA is aimed at the Palestinians, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees is responsible for all the other refugees in the world.

Government spokesman David Mencer told journalists on Wednesday that “UNRWA is riddled with Hamas agents”, adding that “if a UNRWA is, this state finances terrorists”.

“UNRWA employs more than 1,200 members of Hamas, including terrorists who made the massacre of October 7,” said ment. “It is not an aid, it is a direct financial support for terror.”

The UN chief Antonio Guterres demanded on Monday that Israel cancels his order.

“I regret this decision and ask that the government of Israel retracts it,” he said, stressing that UNRWA was “irreplaceable”.

The chief of the agency, Philippe Lazzarini, said that UNRWA’s ability to distribute aid “far exceeds that of any other entity”.

He called the actions of Israel against UNRWA an “incessant assault … to harm the life and the future of the Palestinians through the occupied Palestinian territory”.

Israel has provided evidence that a dozen UNRWA employees have been involved in the murderous attack of 2023 and insists that other agencies can take over to provide services, aid and reconstruction Essential – what the UN and many donor governments dispute.

A series of surveys, including one led by the former French Minister of Foreign Affairs, Catherine Colonna, found “questions related to neutrality” at UNRWA, but said that Israel had not provided proof For its title allegation.

Under the American president Donald Trump, who returned to the White House earlier this month, Washington threw his weight behind Israel’s decision, accusing UNRWA of having overvalued the impact of the decision.