Israel ends deal with UN Palestinian relief agency leaving millions at risk

New York: Israel has formally ended a decades-old cooperation agreement with the United Nations Palestinian relief agency (UNRWA) that covered the protection, movement and diplomatic immunity of the agency in Israel, the West Bank and the Gaza Strip.

Israel notified the UN in a letter on Monday (AEDT), as required by a new law adopted by Israel’s parliament that will ban UNRWA’s operations in Israel and prevent Israeli officials from cooperating with it when the law takes effect in late January.

The end of the 1967 agreement, however, is immediate. UN lawyers are studying the letter, UN spokesperson Stephane Dujarric told reporters, adding that: “UNRWA is continuing to operate today.”

Palestinians gather to receive bags of flour distributed by UNRWA in Deir al-Balah, central Gaza Strip on Saturday.Credit: AP

UNRWA says the new law leaves its operations in the Israeli-occupied West Bank and Gaza at risk of collapse. Top UN officials and the Security Council describe UNRWA as the backbone of the humanitarian response in Gaza, where Israel and Palestinian militants Hamas have been at war for the past year.

“There is no alternative to UNRWA,” Dujarric said.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has for years called for UNRWA to be dismantled, accusing it of anti-Israeli incitement.

The United States opposed the Israeli legislation on UNRWA and was studying the Israeli letter to the UN to learn what the implications might be, State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said.

Palestinian citizens inspect the effects of destruction caused by air strikes on their homes in Khan Yunis, Gaza, on November 25. Credit: Getty Images

The amount of aid entering Gaza has plummeted to its lowest level all year, according to UN data. A global hunger monitor has warned of looming famine, and the UN has repeatedly accused Israel of hindering and blocking attempts to deliver aid, particularly to Gaza’s north.

UNRWA was established in 1949 following the war surrounding the founding of Israel, when 700,000 Palestinians fled or were driven from their homes. It provides aid, health and education to 5.9 million descendants of those refugees in Gaza, the West Bank and in neighbouring Arab countries.

The new Israeli law does not directly ban UNRWA’s operations in the West Bank and Gaza, both considered by international law to be outside the state of Israel, but under Israeli occupation. However, it will severely impact UNRWA’s ability to work.

UNRWA director of communications Juliette Touma said the onus was on UN member states to find a way to get Israel not to implement the law, calling it “a race against time.”

Israel has accused UNRWA staff of involvement in the October 7, 2023, attack by Hamas militants on Israel, which sparked the war in Gaza. The UN said in August that nine UNRWA staff may have been involved in the Hamas attack and had been fired. Later, a Hamas commander in Lebanon -– killed in September by Israel – was found to have had an UNRWA job.

Israel’s UN ambassador Danny Danon said in a statement that despite the overwhelming evidence “we submitted to the UN highlighting how Hamas infiltrated UNRWA, the UN did nothing to address this reality.”

Touma said that in addition to the UN investigation, UNRWA received one formal accusation from Israeli authorities, alleging 100 of its staff were in Palestinian armed groups. UNRWA sought information and cooperation from Israel about the allegations and had not received a response, she said.

Meanwhile, more than 50 countries have written to the UN Security Council and General Assembly urging they take immediate steps to halt arms sales or transfers to Israel.

In a letter to the two UN bodies and Secretary-General António Guterres obtained late on Monday (Tuesday AEDT),the countries spearheaded by Turkey accuse Israel of ongoing violations of international law in Gaza and the rest of the Palestinian territories as well as in Lebanon and the rest of the Middle East.

“The staggering toll of civilian casualties, the majority of them children and women, due to ongoing breaches of international law by Israel, the occupying power, for more than a year now is unconscionable and intolerable,” they said. “We must act urgently to halt the extreme human suffering and regional destabilisation that risks the outbreak of an all-out war in the region.”

The letter calls for the Security Council “to declare an immediate ceasefire to avert this catastrophe” and take action to implement previous resolutions to protect civilians, ensure accountability, and make “a clear demand for the halt of arms transfers to Israel”. The US is a major supplier of weapons and defence systems to Israel.

Reuters